


The Cult of Alexander

by iFluffySquirrel



Series: The Child of Nike [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Camp Half-Blood family, Camp Jupiter (Percy Jackson), Civil War Team Iron Man, Comic Book Science, Demigod Family, Family Feels, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, I reexamine my personal biases, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) is a Good Bro, Not Canon Compliant - The Trials of Apollo, Other, POV Third Person Limited, The working title for this could be Cas is perpetually done, Tony Stark Has A Heart, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:33:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 98,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25859008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iFluffySquirrel/pseuds/iFluffySquirrel
Summary: All things considered, Life has been going very well for Cas recently. Her plan is moving forward.Her father is no longer dying, he knows who she is (not the original plan), but he seems okay with it (?). There are some unfortunate complications on her plate though. For one there is a very mortal sun god running around bringing all sorts of things to light like immortal Roman Emperors....yeah.Then Shield is poking around just a little bit close to home because her father agreed to be a consultant. (A blatant insult given his skills.)And now...gods, these people weren't supposed to come back...Whatever. #DemigodLife
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: The Child of Nike [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1804345
Comments: 103
Kudos: 118





	1. Part 1- Cas Gets Her Vacation

**Author's Note:**

> Hi anybody who takes the time to read this. 
> 
> I must say sorry. Originally, I wasn't planning on doing too much with the plot of the Trials of Apollo other than (Spoiler) saving Jason because, while Percy is my favorite, I still like him. Then I read the Hidden Oracle again and was reminded that in taking inspiration for Cas's backstory from Damian Wayne I inadvertently put Cas in a position to sympathize with Meg McCaffrey.
> 
> So then I wanted to do it. Don't worry, I won't be doing every part of every book but I will take this opportunity to attempt to show you guys Cas's level of comfort and understanding in dealing with Demigod shenanigans vs her ignorant awkwardness around family stuff and mortal stuff. I'll also be attempting to neatly tie her in to the previous books as a whole without doing a complete retelling of those.
> 
> For anyone hoping for this, I don't have a single Romance bone in my body so I have no plans of writing any ships. The ones that are there will exist around Cas but I'm not giving her a person. 
> 
> The plan was to have this be maybe 30-35K. That was a lie. 
> 
> If you don't want to read it that's fine :'( .....I Joke. I'll plan to putting a small summary of "How did she get here" before the Avengers so everything makes more sense if my original story telling attempt backfires.
> 
> Regardless, I love you random person who took the time to read this. <3

It took Cas maybe an hour to convince Pepper to let her catch a cab back to Camp Half-Blood after the whole nearly getting blown up thing. It’s not that Cas doesn’t want to be around them….it’s that Cas really needs a return to normal just for a few days. Then she’ll fly right back to California. In fact, she’ll be there for Christmas.

A first for Cas because typically they celebrate the Winter Solstice and exchange gifts like mortals do for Christmas. Should be fun.

She is most certainly not hiding from the emotional fallout of the very recent parentage reveal now that everything looks to be slowing down. Nope.

Cas just needs a break.

For now that means she’s sleeping in her cabin on day three back at camp where she is pretending that the mortal world does not exist. There are no deadlines or meetings she needs to be in and absolutely zero mandatory projects requiring her attention. And there are definitely no emotionally complicated conversations to be had. She may swing by Bunker 9 later to see if the Hephaestus kids have anything for her to play with but that’s all in good fun.

Cas is being lazy and loving absolutely everything about it.

She should feel at least a little bit bad because they haven’t found any traces of Rachel yet and Reyna informed her that there’s no trail to track on that Sibylline book either. Cas isn’t worried though….she has a good feeling that it’s going to work out just fine.

Mostly.

Lazily she rolls out of bed and gets herself ready to face the day in this little slice of paradise. It’s almost eleven which is ridiculous for her but she really didn’t want to get up today. Vacation time is amazing but maybe she’ll help out with one of the Chariot lessons today seeing as it’s been a while and she never actually built one for her Cabin. She’s the only one in it currently (That was not a request for a sibling.) meaning there wasn’t really a point since it won’t get used. Circa five years ago she built and equipped the one for the Hermes cabin to race with. They didn’t win Tantalus’s stupid race due to very angry birds but it worked out for the best seeing as she befriended Clarisse that summer. 

That was one of the best decisions of her life because everyone needs a six foot something child of Ares on their side. Especially Cas, because she makes Cas look small.

Anyway, Cas is taking it easy and doesn’t wander out until hunger drives her to lunch at which point she vaguely acknowledges the other campers around her but mostly ignores them. It’s self time.

So when she receives a text message from Percy: 

_ Look who I found.  _ Accompanied by a photograph of an acne riddled boy and a very scruffy looking little girl,

Cas is tempted to see how far across Long Island Sound she can throw her phone-it should be pretty far since her javelin toss is around 400 m on a good day-but Cas does not do that because she has responsibility tattooed into her bones.

_ Should I know them?  _ Please, for the love of Olympus, Perseus Jackson, say it’s a joke. That she doesn’t know them nor does she need to know them.

_ Not the girl, she’s a new demigod.  _ Okay…. _ This is Lester Papadopolous, formerly Apollo, the sun dude. _

No.

She drops her phone because no….

Sure, Apollo wasn’t with the Olympian Council when Cas saw them months ago but she figured he was still in godly time out following the colossal failure that was Octavius. 

This is so much better. Schadenfreude, the second greatest word in the english language, is the reason for what happens next. (The best word is defenestration because of Prague.) 

She can’t help it. She laughs and it hurts she’s laughing so hard until Piper wanders over to see if Cas has spontaneously turned into a hyena. (There are spells for that so it’s possible.) Rather than provide any kind of articulate answer Cas hands her phone over to Piper so she can see it.

“Can that happen?” Oh right, sometimes Cas still forgets that Piper hasn’t spent as much time learning demigod history as Cas has.

She clears her throat and avoids looking at that picture or she’s going to crack up again because that right there is good justice. Apollo got a lot of demigods killed because his descendent sucked up to him so it’s only fitting that he has to live like one of them again. “Oh yeah, after he killed Python it happened and once after a fight with Zeus he had to work for Laomedon.”

“But wasn’t killing Python a good thing?” History lessons at the lunch table.

“Sure,” Sort of, “It was before the first Gigantomachy though and Gaea wasn’t an enemy Zeus wanted. Python was her child and she demanded justice for his murder.” And Zeus provided but instead of imprisoning his golden child he was struck mortal and made to be a slave for nine years. Then he got to wash away the stain of his sin in a spring.

“So, Zeus made him a demigod?”

“Nope.” She grins, “Zeus made him a garden variety mortal.” No magic, no powers, just whatever personal skills he had. Despite being perfectly human a lot of monsters still wanted a go at the sun god.

Piper whistles before looking back at Cas’s phone, “Harsh.” Piper grins too.

Cas takes her phone back.

_ Bring Lester and the girl here. One of his children might help him out. _

Because Cas sure as hell won’t.

But….

This could be a lead on their missing Oracle.

No.

Bad Cassandra.

Don’t get involved.

In a few days she’ll be back in California.

The drive from the Jackson household (or is it Blofis?) is a few hours so she’s quick to spread the news around camp and surprise surprise the Apollo campers are not overjoyed to learn about their father’s current circumstances. But it sure does explain why none of their prayers or offerings were bearing any fruit. Poor Kayla Knowles, a sixteen year old daughter of Apollo, was worried that she too would lose her abilities….or spontaneously vanish since her father isn’t a god anymore. 

Cas is quick to reassure her and the other members of her cabin that both situations are unlikely to occur….she thinks. The first time this happened was before Apollo and Artemis had seats on their father’s council so civilization was still very young. He may not have had any little demigods yet. She doesn’t tell them that though, let them swarm their father when he arrives. Meanwhile, she’ll frantically message Nico and Will to please return to Camp so Cas doesn’t have to deal with Apollo too much.

The greater the number of older demigods around the better honestly. Preferably older ones that are technically further up the hierarchy than she is. Cas fought in two wars and took part in a massive quest, she wants no part in the sun god’s redemption arc. She’s busy and he’ll try to recruit heroes to do the grunt work for him because that’s what the Olympians do.

Oh….bad Cassandra. Bad thoughts.

Chiron though….she can’t him at the moment because he has a fabulous poker face but Mr. D isn’t here right now so Cas assumes there must be something big and godly going on outside of just Apollo. Come on, missing prophecies and a newly mortal god of prophecy….no obvious connection there at all.

This was supposed to be a vacation.

~~~

Hours later after Cas has used her frustration constructively to give the next generation some sword lessons, (She was not too rough, Travis. He should step into her ring next if he takes offense to her teaching style.) she’s showered and dressed and mentally prepared to see what comes next. The last few years have just been non stop and gods why….

Prophecies used to be mostly boring and centered around one to three demigods at a time and they were about simple quests like stealing dragon fire or finding a missing artifact. Then the Great Prophecy, then the Argo II, now this….Although this doesn’t have a prophecy because their Oracle is missing. With Apollo/Lester walking around among them there’s a chance that the Oracle of Delphi wouldn’t work even if Rachel was here.

And since Apollo is mortal he won’t have any future sight and he won’t be able to bless anyone with prophecy either. Joy.

Cas is so excited….

The other campers are milling around uncertain about how they should be acting. Should a god stripped of his immortality and status be treated with the same respect they would give him normally? The answer is probably yes and Cas will be struggling with the execution of said respectful behavior because  _ Lester Papadopoulos….  _ She imagines that many of the others will feel the exact same way. However, he will get him immortality back eventually so it’s for the best that no one gets on his bad side. The gods can hold a grudge, poor Annabeth still finds cow pies at random from Hera.

Ha.

Given her name, Cas has never been a fan of Apollo. Being around him makes her scared that she’ll be cursed just like his ex that snubbed him just because they have the same name. Is it irrational? Maybe, but the gods are hardly ever fair by mortal standards. However, she has no issues with his children. Crackshots and doctors and poets and musicians. Their skills are highly diversified and their optimism is a beautiful thing in moderate doses.

She draws on every ounce of strength to make herself serious when she hears people yelling that Percy has arrived with Apollo and a new demigod in tow. To be honest, Cas is excited about that part because this demigod must be Apollo’s sponsor/owner and she wonders what kind of person he found that he gave his allegiance to. 

Rather than fight to get to them right away, Cas takes a page out of Annabeth’s book (she’s away dealing with mortal family stuff right now which is probably not as exciting as Cas’s mortal family stuff) and wisely sits on the porch of the Big House. They’ll get there eventually and it gives her the opportunity to perfect her poker face. It takes almost a half and hour for Percy to get to her and….he’s a mess. Gash over the eyebrow, bloodshot eyes, and sneezing.

“Damn Percy, what happened to you?” It was just supposed to be a drive. Percy and Annabeth shouldn’t be getting up to anything other than preparing to start school in New Rome. Currently, they’re the only Greeks invited to study there full time and Cas is working on expanding that.

He coughs, like actually coughs, like a sick person. “We were run off the road by some disease spirits.” Cas assumes he means Nosoi. Those things are nasty enough to infect a demigod. Wait run off the road?

“You alright?”

“Sure,” That’s comforting, “I kinda fucked over Paul’s car though….can you take a look?” Can she take a look at the car that still has the commemorative pegasus hoof dents in the hood from the battle of Manhattan? Yes, yes she can. 

“I’m the one that asked you to bring them, Percy.” She’s feeling moderately guilty about that now though. If being a demigod equates being a living embodiment of Murphy’s Law then Percy got way more than his fair share of crap luck. “After we figure out what’s going on we can go take a look.”

He raises a brow at her, “I thought you were busy out in California.”

Dammit. “I am but I can help pick apart the problem and plan while I’m here.” A huge issue was just dropped in front of her. It’s not like Cas can ignore it. Especially when there’s scruffy homeless looking baby demigods involved. “How old is the girl anyway?” 

“Meg is twelve.” Shit. “Yep.” Either she said that out loud or she’s broadcasting her emotions right now.

Cas sighs because she’s so young, “Right well, there are plenty of other demigods here to help them right now and Will and Nico should be here any minute.” Cas thinks they were on a date or something. Gods, those two are adorable. The angsty one is soft for the sunshine one….literally. “It doesn’t need to be us. There are others that can help them….”

“And people say personal loyalty is my fatal flaw.” There’s that stupid crooked grin.

“Ha, ha, Katara, we all know hyperfixation is my flaw along with the usual suspects.” Hubris and assuming her way is the right way along with a healthy dose of ignoring the world outside of what she needs for her goals. It’s something she’s been dealing with for years, same with Percy, and since Tartarus….well the lowest circle of hell is excellent for putting things into perspective. In the long run her handful of decades won’t be that important so she tries to pay more attention now. It’s a work in progress. “I’m a little fixated on demigods as a whole now. She falls in the category.”

“This one’s not so helpless, so don’t worry about her.” That’s unusual….Percy isn’t one to be off put by a demigod’s abilities.

“Would you like to share?” This had better be good.

“The girl summoned a giant karpos and named it Peaches.”

Huh, well then. A giant grain baby named Peaches that answers to a twelve year old girl named Meg. This is just getting more and more interesting by the minute. Cas wants to fly back to California now.

“So she's a plant kid and a strong one at that….do you think she might be one of Demeter’s?” It’s a good possibility but there are other agrarian and harvest gods out there. Truthfully, Cas can’t think of another one that could have a twelve year old strong enough to summon a giant karpos though.

“Maybe….she’s a bit rough to be one of Katie’s siblings though.” He doesn’t sound so sure about something and it’s always foreboding from Percy Jackson. He’s an absolute king at putting up a tough front especially after his time with Lupa in the Wolf House.

“Spill, Percy. We can’t work it out if you don’t tell me.” A long running trend with the overprotective ocean child. He used to try and do everything on his own. He’s better now but sometimes the sharing of brain power still eludes him.

“She’s trained, Cassie.”

What?

That’s not possible. “Did you see her fight?” There’s no way because Cas’s cult problem was specific in wanting children of Nike as per ‘tradition.’ Bullshit honestly, but this cannot be them.

“She knew right away that she wouldn’t be able to fight directly and she wasn’t exactly surprised when….Peaches showed up just that it was a karpos.” Okay, that’s not bad. Basic analysis skills and a basic understanding of her control over nature.

“A parent could have taught her that.” A self aware mortal parent could have helped their demigod child to the best of their ability before….before what? Dumping her on the street in Manhattan. If it was a helpful parent the child would be unlikely to run away….

He shifts from foot to foot, “I don’t buy that. She was really uncomfortable meeting my mom,” Saint Sally Jackson is on the same level as Pepper Potts, “Like she wasn’t used to an adult being that nice to her.” This is a familiar song and dance.

Cas rubs her eyes in an attempt to relieve the headache that is already prepared to attack her. Gods, another group taking advantage of young demigods but what happened to this girl’s family? Or was it the family? It’s an awful thing for her to ask and there’s no fair way to approach it other than earning the girl’s….earning Meg’s trust but she doesn’t have time for that. She should leave the tragic backstory uncovering to Chiron and stick to her own business but a twelve year old possibly homeless girl….

No.

She can’t do that to herself. 

There’s no way for Cas to solve everything for every demigod. Almost every demigod comes from a difficult past, she can’t change Meg’s history but she can help her feel welcome in Camp Half-Blood even if the girl is more dangerous than she looks.

Meg found her way to camp now though and, even if she’s bound to a mortal Apollo, she’ll get the full welcome and protection that comes with living here. This is including but not limited to getting harassed by children of Hermes and being tested by children of Ares all in good fun. And with such powerful plant gifts she’ll be a valuable ally for games that take place in the woods so she’ll have no shortage of people looking to work with her. The girl will be fine in Camp Half-Blood, so why does Cas feel like she’s missing something?

“Well, where are they?” Her question is answered with inordinate screaming from the direction of the main camp entrance. “I’ll assume there.”

~~~

Someone must have frightened their new flower child because there’s an angry looking karpos standing inside of Camp Half-Blood right now and they should not be able to get in without help. Neither Percy nor Cas choose to get involved, instead they watch as a random blonde boy (she’s getting Apollo cabin vibes) is flung away from the group. It is very impressive to watch since it sort of looks like an angry green tinted Gerber baby with wings and after every demigod takes a collective step back it shrinks away.

Convenient plant based body guard for a little girl and a former sun god.

Nice.

Chiron and Piper wander up next to her and Percy to watch the absolute mess going on right now. 

“Should we do something?” Piper is such a caring person.

“We should probably let the mosh pit die down before we jump in.” Percy has become practical in his old age.

At least Cas got to see a demonstration of Meg’s power and control. No one looks injured and the one who was tossed like a sack of potatoes looks confused but unharmed. This is looking more and more like a well taught child of Demeter than a random demigod who got lucky to Cas. Dammit. She had been hoping that Percy was just paranoid. The look she exchanges with said waterboy is of the ‘I told you so variety’ and Cas tries not to be offended about being on the receiving end of that.

“This all looks strange.” Oh thank the Gods. Nico Di Angelo and Will Solace.

“You said it, Skull Child.” Did he get taller too? At this rate everyone will outstrip Cas. There was a time when Cas was taller than both Annabeth and Percy. Where did the time go?

“Perhaps it would be best if we escorted our new guests to the Big House.” Chiron, ever the voice of reason but Cas does not feel that approaching all of that is in her best interest at the moment.

“Excellent idea, good luck boys. Hi, Sunshine.” She quickly waves at Will before grabbing Piper and returning to the safety of the Big House. It shouldn’t be difficult for those three to wrangle Apollo and a twelve year old where they need them to go.


	2. An Interloper Ruins It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, my least favorite trope in all of writing is amnesia and memory difficulty....I feel like it's always nothing more than a MacGuffin so I won't be dealing with it. Like at all. Ever.
> 
> So while my Apollo does remember everything, it may take a bit longer for things to come back to him. Because he's in a mortal body and he's thousands of years old its crowded in there so there's a lot of memories to dig through. That does not mean I think he would forget about something central to his worship given his ego...

Another twenty minutes pass where Cas and Piper enjoy lemonade with Chiron while observing the chaos that is their growing home before four demigods and a mortal Olympian make their way towards them.

_ Dangerous…. _

Oh? 

The obvious answer to that warning creeping down her spine would be Apollo in human form. Should something happen to him, bad things for everyone and if they piss him off then bad things for everyone once he gets his godhood back. (Zeus will restore him eventually because Apollo’s his son.) That is not where Cas’s eyes are being drawn though. No. Cas’s attention is held by the little girl with dirt on her bespectacled face and wariness set into her shoulders. 

Uh-huh. This is familiar territory best navigated by Chiron.

“Lord Apollo, my old friend,” Chiron with the big gestures of welcome, “We are honored to host you once again.” Sure they are. He turns towards the girl who appears fascinated by Chiron which is good news. If Meg is not used to seeing ‘mythical’ creatures like centaurs then Cas can rest assured that it was not her old keepers that had Meg. “And you must be Apollo’s sponsor….”

“I’m Meg McCaffrey and he has to do what I say.” Oh boy. It has to be very damaging to the godly pride, being ordered around by a middle school student.

There’s some herding involved because Meg does not look at all certain about what she’s doing here….Cas chooses to keep her focus on the little demigod while Chiron and the others maintain a blank face in light of Apollo’s complaining. Because all he’s doing is ranting about Zeus banishing him due to no fault of his own. It’s not like Apollo had anything to do with his Legacy going insane and trying to kill all of them, nope, not at all.

Meg is quietly sipping on a drink and looking like she wants to disappear into the couch she’s perched on. (Her feet don’t touch the ground. Small naturally or underfed?) No one in the room will have any desire to make her talk because they’ve all been that scared kid before, well, the notable exception is Chiron but he understands. 

“Father?”

“Yes….Michael?” Oh this malaka….Michael Yew died years ago. And Nico doesn’t appear to appreciate his boyfriend’s father failing to call his son by name.

“It’s Will,” But Sunshine continues like it doesn’t matter, “Do you know what happened to Rachel, your Oracle of Delphi?” Even the supremely patient and empathetic med track Will Solace has limits on his patience for his father.

“I imagine she’s in the awesome Oracle cave I made for her.” He doesn’t know….

Gods.

Nope, Cas is not drawing attention to herself. She is here to observe and maybe suggest once they get some ideas going. There’s no way that she is getting more involved than that Rachel or no Rachel.

“Lord Apollo,” Everyone is smart enough to let Chiron take the lead because throttling an Olympian is counterproductive, “Rachel went missing a few days ago along with the Roman Sibylline books. We thought your recent….mortality might be a cause.”

“What’s an Oracle?” Cas pauses for an instant because…. _ Lie _ . She’s good. Little Meg is very very good but that is some A-class acting right there. The question Cas now wants answered is whether Meg is faking ignorance to dumb herself down out of fear of them or some dangerous-to-camp reason. It honestly could be either one so Cas decides to wait for now and let Apollo reluctantly answer the question and roll his eyes.

“There are a few. The Oracles were women blessed by yours truly with the gift of prophecy,” What? He means cursed obviously because all of them ended up miserable with the exception of the Pythia aka the Oracle of Delphi, “But the Oracle of Delphi is obviously the best one and somehow you all lost her.” So, it’s their fault now. Joy. Because the blame game always solves everything. Cas takes a deep breath to restrain herself because she’s been accused of a failure that is not her fault and yeah, that’s going to be a problem. 

Percy, unlike the comparatively sane demigods, has never had any issues with talking back to Olympians, “Don’t blame us like it has nothing to do with her godly protector being gone without us knowing.” The way he nearly sneers ‘protector’ reminds Cas that despite his laid back personality, Percy’s very well known for his temper. It’s true though if they had known that Apollo wasn’t around to defend his domain they would have kept a closer eye on Rachel. They both like and need her. They do not like Apollo though.

“Naturally, I shouldn’t expect demigods to be able to defend something as important as the Oracle without my help.” 

Don’t punch the god-child, Cassandra.

“Lord Apollo,” Save us, Chiron, because even Piper and Nico are starting to lose their cool, “You mentioned a few….I was under the impression that they were destroyed.” Yes, and now there’s only the old auguries that survived from ancient times and the Oracle of Delphi.

Apollo gets sort of shifty before defending himself, “Well, Cumae wrote the Sibylline books-not in haiku form like I would have preferred-but she did the best she could.” Of course she did, “The Caves of Trophonius had an Oracle….”

“Oh, I’d forgotten about that one.” Chiron really needs to write some of this old stuff down because if he’s going to go full senior citizen it would be nice to have a reference. She loves the immortal centaur but he’s been alive for a long time and he’s bound to forget some important things.

“So did Erythaea, she had a beautiful singing voice but I think she faded away centuries ago.” Neither of those sounds particularly promising right now….They could really use some future guidance so that they can find their main future guidance. That stupid cycle: they need to go on a quest to find the prophecies but they need a prophecy to go a quest.

“My friend, what about from before you when Rhea still controlled proph-”

Little Lester scoffs, “Please, the Grove of Dodona was burned down centuries ago by that evil Emperor dude.” Should be Theodosius. He’s the one that really moved against them after establishing Christianity as the official religion of the empire and outlawing ‘Pagan’ rituals….violently

Although….if the Grove of Dodona was Rhea’s it could be helpful. The Titans have been back for years now and the Queen always supported the Olympians. The Labyrinth came back and so did Gaea. Why not a circle of benevolent talking trees from before the rise of Olympus?

Cas likes this idea. Actually in the grand scheme of finding Rachel, the Oracle of Delphi, loyal to Apollo, it makes sense that an Oracle outside of the fallen sun god is what they need.

“Could the Grove of Dodona have come back? Emperor Intollerant’s reign was over a millennium ago, that’s plenty of time for it to have recovered and moved.” She’s very interested in the talking trees now.

Apollo looks her over like she’s just spoken heresy and maybe to him she has but priorities, Rachel is more important than this god’s pride, “Even if it did, without the priests tending it no one would be able to interpret the trees anymore.” This still seems like the best idea in her eyes.

Cas tries to emphasize this to the other demigods in the room particularly Will because he has the best chance at convincing his father, “But without Apollo’s godhood are the other Oracles even an option for us right now? If they’re still around….the Pythia is missing maybe we should try something….” She shudders because from her this is blasphemy, “More old fashioned.” Like Rhea’s magic talking trees.

Will, thank the gods, is on her wavelength today, “Okay, but how do we find it?”

The lack of evidence to support this line of reasoning sucks but, “I really feel like this is our best shot at finding Rachel. So, something should present itself eventually.”

“Oh!” Apollo finally recognized her. That’s nice, “You’re the Child of Nike named after my ex!” Sigh….that she is. Cas prefers not to be compared to the woman who took a blessing from Apollo, reneged on their agreement, and then watched her family die because no one believed her prophecies. “So, how do I win?”

That’s not how it works….

“Apollo,” Gods, why her? “The Grove of Dodona is your only shot right about now.” Cas cannot see the future nor has she ever claimed to see the future but if the goal is to save Rachel and restore the Pythia to her rightful place (Camp Half-Blood nowadays.) they need to start with Rhea’s talking trees. ‘They’ being a broad third person term not including Cassandra because she will be returning to California. That nagging feeling from the other day telling Cas that this isn’t her problem is back and she doesn’t ignore the little voice Tulio. 

“It’s not like you know anything about prophecy anyway.” Then why did he ask her? Percy, like Cas and Piper, is regretting the decisions that led him to this room but honestly Cas was mostly worried about Meg. Not Apollo. And Piper and Percy were likely in the same mental lane. The girl in question seems more interested in eating and drinking everything edible in sight while avoiding eye contact with the rest of the room.

And yet she had the presence of mind to command the loyalty of Apollo when given the opportunity….and lie about not knowing what an Oracle is.

Nope. She’s in camp so she’ll be fine.

“Perhaps it would be best if you and your companion had some food and rest before the planning continues. I’m sure Meg would love to see the rest of Camp Half-Blood.” Chiron coming back with the win. He must have noticed that Meg cleared the snack plate too and now she can escape to look at the Jacksons’ Toyota with Katara and Piper. This is not a retreat and they are not running away. 

Piper already has her face buried in her phone probably to update Jason and therefore New Rome since he’s doing his Pontifex Maximus thing out in California right now, which is where Cas wants to be. She follows Cas and Percy as they head towards the entrance and away from the problem that is the mortal Apollo. Her mind is whirling around the enigma of Meg because she recognizes some of the behavior from other demigods when they first arrive at camp. It’s never fun to see but usually those kids open up once they learn about being a demigod, little Meg already knows what she is and doesn’t seem all that reassured to be surrounded by more people like her.

Apollo, of course, will be fine.

“Are we going to talk about that little girl and how she totally played dumb?” Piper was always going to notice since she’s the child of an actor and very gifted with lies herself.

“Wait, what?” Seaweed brain remains an excellent nickname for Percy. He’s reasonably intelligent but he still misses the obvious sometimes.

Cas chooses to ignore him as they make their way to the car, “Nope, we don’t have any reason to think it’s for anything other than self-preservation and-gods Percy what did you do to this car-we shouldn’t be suspicious of her just because she’s uncomfortable around us.” This car needs more than some TLC but she can make sure it doesn’t die on the way back to Manhattan. “If she keeps doing it then we know something’s wrong.” The girl was in a room with several unknown adults, even if they are young they qualify, a Centaur, and Apollo. They couldn’t expect her to spill her life story then and there. 

“The angry plague blob made me hit a tree….” Percy mumbles but she catches it. Cas waves him off to get her some basic tools from the maintenance area near the vans but Piper chooses to stick around.

“I kind of want to stab whoever put that look on her face.” 

Cas snorts, “Let’s not and say we did.” Gods, she hopes that Percy didn’t crack anything because she can’t fix that with a wrench and a MacGyver attitude, “Think you can charmspeak a car into working?” Piper swats the back of her head in response. 

“Seriously though, it’s messed up.” Piper came from an alright home. Sure, her dad wasn’t always around but her grandfather was until he passed so bad adult figures aren't something she’s used to seeing yet. It makes so much more sense when the monsters have snake legs but being a demigod is not a popular thing since they’re all bastards technically….and the gods don’t exactly respect wedding bands.

“Yeah,” She nods as she disconnects the battery before prodding around to inspect the damage. Safety first….sometimes, “But Piper, she’s here now and we may not be the people she chooses to open up to. Let Chiron work his magic, he’s been doing this for ages, literally, so if anyone can help Meg it will probably be him.” And if not him, she’ll find a helpful demigod to connect with. They all do eventually.

This car will run once Cas is done with it and limp its way back to Percy’s family apartment but it won’t last long without some pricey work, “Do you think the Jackson’s would be offended if I bought them a new car? I’m the one that told Percy to drive here and Mrs. Jackson is pregnant.” They need a solid up to date family vehicle that’s city approved for when Percy’s sister is born and the ROI is just not good for this car. Oh gods, Pepper’s business talk is starting to bleed into her normal thought patterns.

Piper blinks before responding, “I know you get paid the big bucks but can you just buy a car like that?” Oh right….that.

Cas hasn’t told anyone she spoke to her father yet and her soon to be updated status of Stark Heiress….

First she was busy diffusing tensions, then Vanko and Hammer, and then she claimed vacation rights….Cas was not procrastinating. She was mentally recovering from stressful mortal problems.

“I told my dad about me.” Oh good, looks like nothing in the engine is leaking but body work is alway so expensive and Cas isn’t equipped to fix that right now….if she were to give this car over to the Hephaestus Cabin she would without a doubt get it back fixed with dangerous upgrades. They wouldn’t be able to resist even if it’s a mortal car. Project for future Cas, get a proper garage set up at camp and show demigods how to take care of cars without adding magic upgrades just because they’re at camp.

There’s a beat and then, “Cassandra Campeao-”

“You should probably get used to saying Cassandra Stark.”

“Say what?” Oops. Percy heard too.

~~~

There was some talk about Cas’s soon to be very wealthy status and it made something ugly twist in her gut. She won’t say she’s ungrateful for everything ever given to her or claim that everything Cas has was just her but she did do a lot herself and she earned what she has. But when she agreed to change her name she agreed to everything that came with it too and that includes being Tony Stark’s daughter. Which is likely to include trust funds….

She’ll need the status but it’s going to be an adjustment.

Anyway Percy, Piper, and Chiron know for now and further down the line once things are official she’ll inform the camp as a whole. (Chiron never said ‘I told you so’ but he may as well have.) She trusts them but Cas wants to tell the Romans in person and once the exchange kids here learn about it that’ll blow the whole thing out of proportion. (Obviously Jason and Annabeth will be finding out from their significant others.) Despite the excitement of the day it’s a pretty standard dinner except for the fact that Chiron announces yet another ‘Three Legged Death Race’ into the Labyrinth for the next day. It’s weird because they don’t usually repeat events so close together but apparently the interruption to the proceedings caused by Cas and the use of illegal magical equipment (The compass was contraband. Who knew?) made them throw out the previous results.

Also little Harley from the Hephaestus cabin really wanted another shot at running the event. The kid is like eight but he’s quite innovative (Paolo’s fine though.) so one of his older siblings will be helping him out. Probably Nyssa. 

When Chiron says that everyone participating is allowed to choose their partners she decides it all sounds a little overindulgent so she confronts Chiron over it but all he has to say is, “We’ve had some issues with the Myrmeke colony in the woods and until they calm down we don’t want to agitate them further.” Yeah, giant ants are not something they want to piss off but they’ve never acted up in all of the time that Cas has been at camp unless the demigods strayed too close to their hill. And it’s really far into the Valley.

Weird but she’ll leave that to the dryads to sort out.

She’d rather have a game of capture the flag though.

Then of course her evening gets weirder because not long after dinner starts Connor Stoll and Sherman Yang are wandering around asking if anyone’s seen Cecil and Ellis. The kicker is that Billie Ng is looking for Miranda Gardenier who is a senior camper and not in any way a trouble maker. They aren’t answering their phones, they missed check in before dinner, and no one has seen them in hours.

Cas didn’t even know Cecil and Ellis were friends but Hermes and Ares get along, so why not? However, a child of Demeter hanging out with them is far fetched even in a world where Percy and Annabeth can get together in spite of their parents' rivalry. To be fair there are a lot of new faces in camp now so Cas can’t exactly be faulted for not knowing every new development. Three missing campers out of the blue though….Is it just an overwhelming numbers and a lost in the crowd thing? It’s not too worrisome though because they’re both really resourceful and Chiron would have known if they left the Camp borders. They have systems for that….even if one of them is a child of Hermes.

No. They’re in the camp because they aren’t stupid enough to leave their phones behind when sneaking out. It’s probably some sort of practical joke thing and Miranda followed to keep them out of trouble. That’s the story and she’s sticking to it.

Cas goes to bed and resolutely tries not to think about the possibility of missing campers along with a missing Oracle. She does okay but she texts Percy and asks that he returns to Camp this weekend if the missing demigods don’t turn up by then. Sleep doesn’t claim her until she gets his message of agreement.

Somehow breakfast is more interesting than dinner and that’s saying something. The far more casual meal does not usually include separating to tables by cabin but by habit most start with their siblings then move around. Typically, Cas will end up at the Hermes, Hephaestus, or Athena tables unless she is specifically sitting with Piper or Clarisse. Today she seats herself with cabin eleven because she did spend most of her years with them and she wants to observe Meg a little bit closer while keeping an eye on Apollo from across the Pavilion. 

Apparently, he’d woken up shouting this morning about falling suns, hidden gates, and someone wanting to burn the Oracle….It’s all very much not a bright way to start the day and his children and Chiron were all very quick to advise against shouting such dark omens across the camp. She doubts Apollo will remember but at least they tried.

Breakfast though, how to describe? It was typical. The food was delicious, the company happy, and Cas was waiting for her coffee to revive her in a way even Nectar and Ambrosia cannot do. Then that blondie boy Apollo kid-Cas should learn his name- walks over and tries to pick a fight with Meg because her Karpos, Peaches, beat him up yesterday. Has Cas mentioned that young demigods have easily wounded prides? Even more so when they lose face in front of their godly parent.

Predictably, the twitchy formerly homeless twelve year old new girl steps up because she doesn’t think anyone will defend her. And they won’t if she doesn’t ask for help. They’ll step in if it gets physical though because there are rules about where challenge fights are acceptable. Meg does not have much skill with words because while, “You can’t tell an apple from a peach,” is probably a dig at his intelligence the boy doesn’t get it. When she says he’s too dumb to understand her though the older boy who should know better lunges at her. 

Fights escalate sometimes, this is fairly normal around a bunch of hot tempered teens, however, the escalation to the screaming grain baby attacking the boy’s hair and face was not something Cas predicted and many years of instinct has her calling her spear to her hand because that’s a monster attacking a demigod. Generally, that’s frowned upon and they kill the monster.

“Peaches, no! Don’t hurt him!” It’s unclear if she’s referring to the boy or the karpos but Little Meg jumps to separate the demigods from Peaches and draws two imperial gold swords from her rings which she clearly knows how to use. Someone tries to fire an arrow around her at Peaches but the little demigod is swift and dextrous enough to slice it out of the air while simultaneously disarming another kid from the Hermes table. The use of imperial gold is very unexpected since it’s typically used for Roman weaponry but she’s definitely Greek because that is Demeter’s symbol that just appeared over her head, not Ceres.

“Who is this Kid?” Connor whispers. Cas would like to know the answer to that question as well because that is not the basic built in sword swinging any demigod can manage. This girl has a lot of training from someone somewhere and Cas doesn’t like the picture this is painting in her head. Is she like Cas? Gods, she hopes not because the amount of effort that went into making Cas a passably normal human being was exhausting just for her. Cas didn’t even have the hard part fixing her issues.

The blondie boy is now missing some tufts of hair and bleeding from his face but Will and, she thinks, Austin are quick to cart him out of the way so that the other children of Demeter can approach. 

“My friend is no longer unclaimed,” Cas and the others kneel out of respect but she’s moderately surprised by Apollo’s words and that he is the one naming her. Though with the conspicuously absent Mr. D, Apollo is the closest thing they have to an Olympian, “Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for Meg McCaffrey, daughter of Demeter.” And he sounds like he’s choking on that sentence.

Just looking at Meg as she’s welcomed by her siblings, Cas can tell she’s expecting to be black sheep material. That won’t do. She’s talented and troubled and now she has a cabin filled with siblings who will hopefully support her unique warriorness(?). Honestly, Cas has never met a child of Demeter who can do what Meg just did so she’s going to assume she gets it from her father. Maybe he’s some sort of human sorcerer, those exist.

They quickly bustle her away so she can get situated in Cabin Four. Cas has never been in there because she doesn’t see the allure of having grass for carpeting but they find it soothing and hopefully Meg will too. The race is slated for after lunch instead of the evening this time so Cas slips away to avoid being drafted to instruct morning training. If she has to once again moderate this ‘teamwork exercise’ then she wants some space beforehand.


	3. The Best Laid Plans

The ‘Three Legged Death Race’ starts much the same way as last time but Hecate and Tyche campers have been suspended for use of illegal magical items. Sucks for them but it totally throws the original odds for who can win off the table. Which is how Cas ends up flanked by Connor and Travis when she was originally planning on chilling during the race with Piper. She does not expect to watch Lester Papadopolous attempting to get everyone’s attention and be largely ignored, particularly by Sherman Yang but he has this thing where he gets into the zone before a contest. Cas respects any and all precompetition rituals. Whatever it takes to get into that winning mindset is very important, she gets it, but Apollo is being very….determined about it as Meg follows him with two bronze restraining cords for their legs.

Maybe he’s asking for mercy but Meg is his sponsor so he has to listen to her and if Meg wants to race then he’s racing. That attitude is not going to win him any points with the other campers during his journey to regain his godhood. There are more important things that Cas needs to do before the race than cater to a god-child like placing her bets on first and last place so that the boys can set the odds for everyone else.

What she observes honestly makes her want to laugh but this is a serious ritual for them and here her word is law, “You two won’t believe this but twenty five drachme to Apollo and Meg for the last place slot and for first place,” She being sarcastic, they have no chance. Then she wrinkles her nose because she has no idea for the winner. That’s weird. “Safe bet’s Ares/Athena so put ten on them for me.”

“Twenty five? On the new kid and Apollo?” Connor says on her left.

“Not exactly a surprise. Winner?” Travis brackets her in more and stares like he’s divining the future from some tea leaves. Too bad divination is down right now.

“Did I stutter?” Normally a surprise team up of Ares and Athena would be cause for concern but it’s nice to see them getting along without Clarisse and Annabeth to mediate. Regardless of brute strength teaming up with strategy (the team she’d normally never bet on because Ares and Athena kids self sabotage together) Cas’s feelings….well it still feels uncertain.

Cas isn’t surprised about the last place slot. That duel wielding flower child sure, she’s some real competition but she heard that earlier in the day Apollo swore on the River Styx to never use a bow or play music until he’s a god again. Evidently, his abilities as a mortal were too embarrassing for him to bear, but the oath was stupid because everyone knows you use what you have. He cost himself every main skill in his formerly stacked deck. Meg must really carry the team since Cas is still certain they’ll make it back despite the rules being ‘you win if you make it back alive.’ Please, dangerous or not first place goes to the team that gets back first….she’s just not certain about who’s on first.

The poor referees head off to the Labyrinth ahead of the teams. The idea this time is to prevent any straying that could lead to international travel. This morning a poor satyr ended up in Lima after testing Harley’s course, (The kid did it on purpose. He must have.) so everyone's a little bit on edge even if Cas, Piper, and boys are enjoying watching. The goal of the golden apples would have been alluring to the Stoll brothers if it weren’t for the fact that they can make much more money than the apples are worth off the bets they’re collecting. Even if the betting is low since it’s kind of obvious.

Chiron blew his horn again and called the competitors to their starting positions and Cas sighs because she hasn’t done any of these camp contests in a long time, not since they confirmed Jason was from New Rome. That was when Bunker Nine was uncovered and Cas teamed up with Leo and other Hephaestus campers to build the Argo II actually. It was a busy few months. 

Wow.

She’s actually an adult demigod now and by New Rome standards she'd be retiring from the legion in six months when she turns twenty two. Ten years at Camp Half-Blood, damn. Now is not the time for Cas to ride the nostalgia train though because Chiron just confirmed that the contestants know the rules.

“Does Paolo really want to race again?” Piper says. 

The boy is a son of Hebe, a goddess of youth and vitality, so of course that adorable Brazilian is always ready to go.

“Will said there was no lasting damage to his arms. He’s got that special healing thing anyway.” Travis says with envy coloring his tone. Cas can agree with that mindset because there aren’t many people who can recover from a double temporary limb amputation like that. Personally, she’d prefer to keep her arms permanently attached to her person.

They are set up to watch near the meadow starting line which is very far away from the main entrance to the Labyrinth. Cas looks around confused, “Are they expected to run to Zeus’s Fist from here? Or is there a new entrance I don’t know about?” Suddenly, there’s a beautiful moment where the universe answers her questions immediately. She wishes that she used that moment to ask a more important question.

Harley laughs maniacally as the ground opens up and swallows the racers then closes behind them like nothing happened.

“Di immortales!” Exactly Piper. 

That boy is a vindictive child of Hephaestus and she’s grateful that he’s on their side. Who else could make a race where you’re considered a winner if you survive? Whatever. First team back will be Malcolm and Sherman. So the last time this race occurred, Cas was informed that the teams all got back reasonably unharmed (Not Paolo….). It’s entirely possible that Harley took it as a challenge to make it much harder this time and Nyssa, like the caring older sister she is, may have encouraged him too much.

She has a terrible feeling about all of this.

Too late now, they’ll just have to roll with the punches as they fall.

Sitting and waiting is boring so Cas strikes up what she thinks is a light conversation with Piper, “So, how are you and Jason doing?” The slight stiffening of her shoulders has Cas continuing, “Uh, nevermind. Pass. Ignore said question.”

“We’re taking a break.”

Shit. Abort. Poorly timed light conversation topics.

But she can’t leave Piper hanging like that and no one else is here for her to talk to about this right now. Her siblings are all gossips. “Did something happen?”

Piper fiddles with her braid over her shoulder, “Not really. It’s just….We were thrown together by Hera last year, right? And my mom was all ‘you two have chemistry.’ But we were constantly together in life or death stakes for months so Jason and I got close,” She gestures at Cas, “We got close. Everyone on the Argo II got close. But after spending some time apart, I’m thinking a lot of what we had was from Hera and adrenaline.”

They seemed so happy though, “All of it?”

She wrinkles her nose in thought, “No, well, I don’t think so and that’s the problem.” Ah right, not understanding the feelings bit. Cas gets that.

“Okay, well I know that Jason’s not the kind of person to want a forced relationship but I also know he’s too much of a softie to hurt your feelings on purpose.” Sparky’s worse than Percy around the opposite gender. “So, if the both of you feel like you have to sort something out for a while then maybe it’s good he splits his time in California.”

She sighs, “You’re right.”

“I usually am,” Cas goes for a smile, “I’ll keep him out of trouble for you once I head back to LA.”

“Yeah, right. I don’t think that’s possible.” It’ll be hard. The kid is a danger magnet, “You can barely keep yourself fed. I wouldn’t trust you with a hamster.” 

Ouch. “I’ll have you know that my self care has improved by leaps and bounds since I started living on my own.”

“Uh huh,” There’s no need for her to sound so skeptical, “When’s the last time you got a haircut?”

She actually did this! “I went before the Expo. Pepper took me.”

Piper laughs at her and says, “Yes, the ultimate testament to self-care. Your boss took you to get a haircut.” Well, when she puts it that way it sounds bad.

“I didn’t know what I needed or how to dress! She helped me represent SI.” Also, they were trolling her father. Piper continues to laugh at Cas so she tunes her out and listens to the commentary coming from the other spectators making bets.


	4. Are Rarely Ever the Best

The race shouldn’t have taken more than two hours of epic deadly fun (Harley’s words) but the first team stumbles back in bloody after almost three hours. Cas had been prepared to go in after minute 121 but Chiron forbade it because they had other redundancies in place. Rescue parties were a last resort only….then why is she there?

Fine.

Whatever.

The nonparticipating Apollo children pounce on their patients as they trickle in. She’s not surprised the visiting Roman team is the least injured of the group because those kids are machines. It takes five hours for the majority of the teams to make it out. Nico escorts Will and another demigod she doesn’t recognize as they carry a screaming and cursing Paolo out….and his leg.

By the gods, something went very wrong because these injuries are well beyond anything that they were anticipating. Two teams are still missing and she knows which ones immediately. Meg and Apollo then Austin and Kayla. Cas is no use to serious medical treatment but she can run so she starts following the barked orders of the various children of Apollo that send her to fetch things. Vaguely she hears someone say that the ‘leg has been reattached’ so that’s good news. Paolo is going to kill every single one of them once he’s better.

Cas recalls once again that this was supposed to be a vacation not the beginnings of a quest that she is dangerously dancing the edges of. Things only go wrong like this when there’s a big bad in the background messing with their stuff like the Labyrinth that should only be moderate levels of dangerous.

She hears people shouting about Apollo and Meg stumbling in near race hour six and sure the Labyrinth tends to scorn the standard concept of time but they were certain before the race started that everything was fairly well synched up. Something is messing with them and it hurt her people someplace they were supposed to be playing (demigod playing but still). Then Apollo and Meg are back after falling out of the woods, the sun is down, and no one has seen Austin and Kayla. Apollo and Meg are supposed to be the last ones back.

Shit.

The campers are all safe and recovering except for Austin and Kayla….and the other three demigods that should have turned up by now. That makes five missing demigods that have no reason to work together in a very short amount of time. She’s drawn to the edge of the woods where she hears bits of conversation.

“-demigod on the streets, you hear about the Beast.” Oh, Meg. But who is this Beast? “He takes people like me.” This isn’t for Cas to hear so she’s quick to slip away. But not before she hears, “To train, to use like….Servants….” Malaka. 

She already learned more about Meg than she had any right to know, it wouldn’t be right to listen to more. ‘On the streets’ means she was definitely homeless and if she knows about ‘the Beast’ and she has all of that fancy training and two very lovely curved swords….two plus two equals four. But ‘the Beast’ is a title that’s poking at Cas’s brain….what monster does she know of that is referred to by that name? It’s not Typhon….It’ll probably come to her eventually.

Right now, it’s too dark to go running off into the woods to go looking for the five missing campers so they’ll have to wait until morning. Is it bad that she’s still more at ease dealing with these kinds of problems than that business with the Palladium? Probably, but Cas grew up fighting monsters and witnessing magic that’s beyond her understanding (not forever.) This Beast is just another target for Camp Half-Blood to go up against and some missing campers in the woods aren't the worst stakes she’s had to deal with. It’s certainly not how she wants things but…..She’s not even going to think it and risk jinxing herself.

They’ll find the missing campers and figure out what took them. And they’ll be perfectly fine too.

~~~

Cas overslept. Or maybe she didn’t. It’s a perspective thing.

“They went in just after sunrise?” And beat her by maybe twenty minutes. Assuming Cas wanted to go with Apollo and Meg into the woods.

“Apollo said that the Beast set a trap and took Austin and Kayla specifically to draw him out. The only reason Meg went is that he has to do as she says.” Chiron doesn’t know that Meg has experience with the Beast. They haven’t told him yet and maybe they don’t plan to but it isn’t Cas’s place to interfere either way.

“There are other ways to deal with a trap besides tripping it….there are what seventy five? Eighty? Campers here right now.”

“There are currently one hundred and twenty campers here for the winter.” Perfect that shouldn’t be a problem, “And the average age is eleven. Knowing you, there are only Will, Nico, Piper, Travis, Connor, and Katie in the age range you would be comfortable working with directly.” Which means everyone else is sixteen or lower. That’s not to say sixteen isn’t old enough. The majority of the kids in battle of Manhattan were sixteen to seventeen years old but they’ve been trying to reduce the number of minors going on deadly quests for almost two years now. Gods, how long ago was it that Chiron tried to ban quests after her and Luke’s near disastrous expedition to the garden of the Hesperides (it didn’t last but he tried to keep kids out of danger) Although, other than the basics of journeying across the country to Camp Jupiter and back (dangerous in and of itself) there haven’t been any quests since Gaea.

“Okay Chiron, your way then. How do you sit back and let the younger heroes go?” He smiles sadly at her but doesn’t respond before trotting away. Cas thinks the answer is with great reluctance because she wants to run out there and drag them back to camp. It’s her duty because her goal is ultimately to protect all demigods. No more dead kids….but the reality is that a demigod’s life will have dangerous quests and fights in it. She can mitigate the damage and give them a shot living outside of just the fighting though.

She sighs. To a brighter future.

In light of everything that’s been happening this week Cas wonders if the monsters have really been scrambling to hide after Gaea fell or regrouping again….who is the Beast? How did he know Apollo was here?

These are questions that chase her throughout the day and nothing, not even an unnecessarily long uneven bar routine is enough to bring any sense of clarity. Cas spends lunch with Piper but the conversation is twitchy and inconsistent. The missing campers, Oracle, and hidden dangers in the woods put everyone on edge. It feels like they’re on the eve of battle but there’s at least twenty kids like Harley in the camp and many more like scarcely trained Megs. This leads to the most senior campers actively carrying their weapons on them everywhere. It’s something Chiron would usually call them out on….but if the campgrounds aren’t safe then they need to be ready to defend it.

It reminds Cas of that herd mentality some grazing species have where they put the young in the middle of the group and circle them when predators are around. There’s no guarantee that they’ll stop the attack but at least the kids are safe.

It’s also highly frustrating for Cas because she designed and updated all of the camp’s defenses but something got in and snatched up five campers from under their noses. Her designs failed to do their job and once Apollo and Meg come back with some answers she will be updating again.

The storm breaks when she hears shouting from the central green near the campfire that Apollo is back. Just Apollo. It doesn’t take her long to get there but he’s been carted off by his kids because he passed out.

Sigh.

She hovers with Chiron at the Big House and again wonders where Mr. D is. No one has said anything so far and his son is at home with his mother right now so there is no one to ask about the Camp Director’s current whereabouts. Her immediate reaction was to charge the woods to find the spunky child of Demeter but she held back because she doesn’t know what she’s up against.

There is a very tightly controlled part of Cas telling her that it doesn’t matter because she can take them and she can win but the other smarter part of her that’s kept her alive this long says she needs more information. Then she can make a plan. Another part of her makes her run to the armory because there’s information there, a strange impulse but she’s had stranger. And Cas is glad she did because, “If you want to punish me, father, be my guest, but have the courage to hurt me directly, not my mortal companion. Be a man!” She automatically checks the sky for lightning because, damn, mortal Apollo just called out Zeus in broad daylight. She gets closer in time to see Apollo almost pick the wrong bow.

“You’re going to want to take the one to the left, Lord Apollo.” He jumps not having expected her. It’s still weird and hilarious that he’s so vulnerable but that bit of preaching earned him some points in her books, “The string was just replaced and tested by Kayla,” Kayla, his daughter that’s missing, “It won’t fail you.”

“Cassandra!” He remembers her? “You must help my son and Nico defend the camp. The emperors are attacking.” What? “My descendent, Nero, for some reason hates me, no idea why.” Nero? The crazy burning emperor? 

Oh….

Oh that makes so much sense. The early Christians called him the Beast for burning them alive by the hundreds.

“How-”

“There’s no time.” He’s already moving around her to run back to the woods, “He’s part of a group called Triumvirate Holdings and he’s here to destroy the Grove of Dodona.” There is so much to unpack from that sentence. Triumvirate probably refers to that super unstable Roman method of ruling an empire (Caesar vs Pompey for one example), so three evil emperors. And more importantly, the Grove of Dodona is here.

Her first thought is why are there Roman Emperors trying to conquer them? Her second is that she wants to call up Reyna and Frank for them to clean up their mess because Roman shit is their territory. Their problems are spilling into Greek space, but she scraps that immediately because they’re allies now which means holding hands and working together.

Cas stands flat footed and watches as Lester Papadopoulos runs back to the woods at a squishy mortal pace….Well, a god has asked her to defend the camp-sort of god-so she needs to find Chiron and call a war council.


	5. In Which Our Hero Gives Up On Relaxing

Cas is grateful for the voices of reason in the room-namely Piper, Will and Nico- because some people (namely Katie, her new baby sister got nabbed by giant ants) are baying for blood right now and want to charge the woods. She uses the word room metaphorically since they’re at the amphitheater. As she has already established, they have no idea what kind of forces Nero has at his disposal and as she will remind the class again.

“This is a man who burned people alive for not believing he’s a god. What do you think he’ll do to hostages if we push too hard?” Probably burn them. The fiddle thing may be a myth but Nero was quick to build a palace to his own glory after the slums of Rome burned, which he blamed the Christians for. Actually….there’s a good chance that Nero is a big source of the animosity between the monotheists and the demigods. Point is he’s a known pyromaniac and he has five of their people, they cannot rush.

Cas tunes out the arguments after that because she’s been using her tablet to look up everything she can find on Triumvirate Holdings. Thank the gods that there doesn’t seem to be any business interactions between SI and these crazies. Then again her father prefers to work only in facilities that they own and manage (control freak) so a real estate holding company isn’t something that would be of interest. It appears that her grandfather felt the same way because they never interacted either. But this is all kinds of socioeconomically freaky because she can’t find when this group started and there are fingers in many pies….it all points to a secret immortal conspiracy group hell bent on world domination.

Does this count for illuminati on her “Your Life is Fucked” bingo card?

Sure.

Because that’s what the world needs in addition to Shield and demigods. 

She digs in more and finds….no.

That’s….

Cas wasn’t informed of this until after the peace agreements were signed but before Octavian seized control of the Legion from Reyna they parlayed with Rachel and Grover on the roof of a building in Manhattan. Not that big of a deal because it’s fairly easy to get up to the roofs if one is a resourceful demigod or Rachel. If Cas had asked more questions about this meeting, such as the number of legionnaires or the quantity of equipment in sight, she would have come to the conclusion that the Romans were not using a convenient meeting place. Oh no. They were occupying the building and that’s because they own it.

It was acquired for them by Triumvirate Holdings through some very shady and rushed agreements but the building is still property of Camp Jupiter. Cas was not aware that the Romans still had a building so close to Camp Half-Blood and that is something that she will have to discuss with them along with their past dealings with dead Roman emperors. She will not be kind. Especially with what she finds next.

_ “Come with me, Cassie. I have supporters in the mortal world too, whole armies that want to watch Olympus fall.”  _ Dammit Luke. He was sixteen and stupid but that’s no excuse for dealing with people like this who should have set off all of the flags.

The  _ Princess Andromeda,  _ that fucking ship where Charlie died, was owned and managed by Triumvirate Holdings. These old malakes have been tugging the strings around Cas’s life for five years now.

She hates to do this but….Cas sends all of this to Percy along with a message to get here ASAP. They’ll need him.

Cas tunes back into the group debate at the Amphitheater, the big house isn’t big enough for all of the Cabin Heads, to hear Sherman shouting about burning the forest down until they uncover Nero. It would be brutal yet karmic but….well even with his suggestion to replant it after that would be a whole lot of dead dryads. Katie is very quick to shoot that down so she’s still got command over some of her mental faculties.

She glances around from her seat near the middle third and sees a lot of scared faces. Again, it’s winter and these are just kids mostly under sixteen so their memories of battle are mostly the clusterfuck that was the Roman and Giant invasion. And many weren’t even here for that because there are so many new kids. The one Roman that has been allowed to attend (she thinks his name is Philip) is trying to disappear into his seat which is a good call. There are many reasonable people here but there’s still a risk of groupthink taking over.

Cas sighs because she’s going to have to speak more than just slapping down dumb ideas. The original hope was that someone would step up as rational strategic leader but it doesn’t look like anyone else is ready for that yet. She gets up without saying anything and makes her way down to the stage. Unlike that poorly designed thing she presented on for the Expo, this amphitheater is made for carrying voices towards even the back without microphones. She won’t have to yell.

“Many of you weren’t here back then,” The arguments die down around her, “But five years ago we were betrayed by one of our own. Luke Castellan promised the destruction of Olympus and a wealthy mortal party backed him….those mortals were Triumvirate Holdings and Nero.” Cas bets she could hear a pin drop. She considers mentioning the Roman building in Manhattan but decides to give that tidbit of information to Chiron for dissemination. “These monsters have been hiding in the dark like cowards waiting for a chance to attack us. They have been patient for a very long time. Centuries. I know you’re all angry. I know that you want to fight but believe me when I say we need to wait. Nero is about to play his hand and it’s too late to stop that but we can be ready when the chips fall. Rather than laying siege to the woods we need to focus on manning our defenses.”

“You want us to sit back and do nothing?” Malcolm Pace doesn’t not sound in favor of her plan and she wishes that her child of Athena was here right now. “In our own territory with a Roman invader in the woods?”

“I’m still your Strategos,” That shuts him up. She may have been out of town for a few months but she never named a successor so unless the camp votes now to replace her this is her arena, “We don’t know enough to launch an assault on the woods. We don’t even know where they are in the valley. What we do know is that they will be coming for us which gives us the home field advantage.” Also, Nero burns things. It's not a good idea to push the fight away from bodies of water but that’s details. “Let the fat zombie Roman come. We’ll dump him in Long Island Sound.” Besides, the camp is very well populated right now and they have the Athena Parthenos to defend them from invaders. It may have failed Athens against the Romans last time but her mother is on that statue too and she’s unlikely to lose twice to the same opponent.

It’s not a pretty speech but it gets the job done and gets the kids willing to work with her. Everyone under fifteen (she was haggled down from seventeen by the Ares and Athena campers) is allowed to help prepare but not allowed to fight whatever ends up attacking them except as a last resort. The original plan was to set up close to the woods border but Cas pushed for the command tent to be in the dining pavilion. A medical tent is set up nearby and quickly filled and organized by the available Apollo campers. Any of their cabin under the age of fifteen have been given permission to assist in treating injuries but no fighting.

In fact, the next couple of hours is filled with grabbing baby demigods by the back of the cuirass and hauling them back to their cabins. Dread has begun to pool in the base of Cas’s spine and she knows the attack is imminent. The anticipation makes her twitchy so she takes to twirling her spear in order to relax as she makes last minute adjustments but the other campers know her and pick up on her tension. There’s a danger, a huge threat to their safety, but she doesn’t know exactly what it is or where it’s coming from. Little Harley proved recently that the Labyrinth can open up from just about anywhere in the camp without a trace.

Gods, please do not let this be an attack of the mole people scenario….

It’s right around then that the ground rumbles like thunder has just rolled through it. She almost pinches herself for jinxing the camp after worrying about mole people but instead she curses when her eyes are drawn to the beach.

What the fuck?

Where did that monstrosity even come from?

About a hundred and fifty meters offshore is a giant bronze statue that’s easily over one hundred feet tall since it’s up to its thighs in the water. Her mind is a little jumbled by the sight so forgive her for using two different units for length. There should be no way that one hundred feet of buckass nude bronze man could have snuck up on them like that unless Nero is packing some serious magic but she has a job to do.

“Sherman!”

“Yeah?” The son of Ares pulls his eyes away from the approaching figure.

“Grab a second and three archers. Take the flying chariot out and hit the joints. Slow it down. Be a menace. Don’t die.” Please.

“Can do, Strategos.” Ugh...it’s been over six months since Cas has been in a battle so she guesses that she’s overdue.

“Piper! Grab a megaphone and some other charmspeakers. Keep it in the water.”

A mock salute and a wink later, Piper is running off as well. 

What else? What else?

Where is Percy? If he took the LI Railroad when she said ASAP a few hours ago she’s going to be pissed.

There’s not much that Cas can do from her current position other than direct the campers to the dunes so that they can fire on the statue when it’s in range. Why is it a giant naked statue? She has a memory knocking around about Nero making some giant thing to his own glory. 

Oh right.

The Colossus Neronis, which explains the weird stick thing in his right hand. It’s a giant rudder he can use to steer the world. Fitting. She’s going to melt it down for scrap when this is over.

Right now it’s using the rudder as a sort of walking stick to keep it balanced as it closes in on the shore now only seventy five meters out and approaching surprisingly fast. The left hand is swatting at the flying chariot which has just made it out there. With almost two years of practice under their belt the Ares Cabin has become very adept at piloting it even if it would be better utilized by the Apollo Cabin full time.

The camp’s defenses will probably kick in maybe twenty to thirty meters from shore at which point they’ll see if the magic barrier and the Athena Parthenos are capable of holding off the Colossus.

“Cassie! Cassie!” They’re perfectly in sync so it sounds a little creepy but the Stoll brothers only sound like that when they have a terrible/brilliant idea for her. Judging by what they’re carrying they do not have a brilliant idea. “We found the flamethrowers!” Of course they did. What other agents of chaos would pick up such pointless weapons? She raises a brow at them and waits for further explanation. Connor quiets downs and catches her less than enthused attitude first but Travis continues on unimpeded.

“We can melt it when it gets to shore.” They are clever. Usually. Mostly with locks, pranks, and pickpocketing though. Oh and money.

“Trav, can those things melt celestial bronze? If so, how close do you need to be and for how long?” Probably for a lot longer than is feasible. He looks so disappointed, “Why don’t you take those over to the onagers and ballistae and help your cabin and our Roman friends launch flaming projectiles instead?” They can channel that energy elsewhere. Will filling the air around the Colossus with pitch coated boulders make it more difficult for the chariot to fly? Probably, but she has faith in Sherman’s driving skills.

They’re both gone before she can finish talking so it’s worth it. The Colossus is still closing at a steady pace when it collides with the barrier. The impact sends a shudder through the whole camp which jars her teeth and makes her grab onto the maps table to keep her balance. Chiron canters up beside her from where he’s been running full quivers to the beach now that the Colossus is in range of their archers.

“Will it hold?” Even as she speaks, the Colossus raises his right hand and brings the rudder down like a club. It glances off the transparent barrier but another quake hits the camp and rattles the tables and columns. “Di immortales.”

“For now,” Chiron nods towards the glowing Athena Parthenos over on Half Blood Hill, “We cannot allow it to reach the campfire in the central green. It would have disastrous consequences for the entire valley, not just the camp.”

She looks over sharply, “This is going to sound strange since it’s me and I’m a genius, but could you run that by me again?”

“The Campfire is the hearth of the entire camp.” Well, shit. Why has no one ever told her this before? “If it’s destroyed then this entire region will be cursed and rendered uninhabitable to demigods.” Yay. Higher stakes than death are always good motivation for Cas.

In the background she can hear Piper’s siblings shouting out the megaphone that the rudder is too heavy to swing around like that and what a lovely day it is for a swim. It makes the rudder swings look clumsy and the attempted steps through the barrier become more infrequent as the charmspeak takes hold. They’re slowing it down, thank the gods.

She’s just about to explain to Chiron that she doesn’t have any other plans outside of keeping it in the water so Percy can sink it when he finally shows up but before she can a Myrmeke lands next to the command tent carrying Cecil Markowitz and Rachel Dare, the Pythia herself. In her hands is a very fat and dirty book that Cas is going to assume is of the Sibylline variety. She takes one look at them and says, “Are Anty and friends joining the fight too?” Ants are ruthless so it would be nice to have acid spitting ones on their side.

Cecil jumps off first then helps a wobbly Rachel down as she answers, “Sorry Cassie, they’re just the cab service.” Too bad. “I’m fine by the way. In case you were worried.” 

“It is a relief to see you well Rachel, you too Cecil. I believe your brothers are helping to launch flaming projectiles on the beach.” That’s all Markowitz needs to run off. Chiron properly greets Rachel while Cas watches the other ants fly out towards the statue.

Then she sniffs the air, “What’s that smell?”

“Excuse me, if I haven’t bathed while I was trapped in a circle of talking trees.”

“Not what I meant.” She sniffs again, “Smells like burning.”

“Probably because Nero used Meg to force Apollo to open the Grove of Dodona, where I was being kept with this Sibylline book by Rhea, so that he could burn it all down with me inside using the kidnapped campers for kindling. I guess that’s where Hera got the hero-napping from. No memory loss though, thanks for asking.” Since Rachel doesn’t sound too affected, she’s going to assume all of the missing campers are fine along with everyone else.

Cas blinks.

To anyone else, any outsider anywhere, this story would be dismissed and the men in white coats would be summoned. She’s spent too much time around mortals.

“Why?”

“Apollo said something about Python gaining full control over the Oracle of Delphi and Nero wanting to capture or destroy the other Oracles to gain control over the future of the world.” Sounds reasonable, “Did you know about the other Oracles?”

Cas is not afraid of Rachel. She has a healthy respect for her though, “Nope, no I did not. I only know of the Pythia, which is you.” Rachel is totally convinced.

“Sure.” Completely convinced.

Her attention returns to the battle before her. The rudder comes down almost hesitantly again and Cas can swear that she hears cracking.

No. Not yet.

It can’t fall yet because they need to keep it in the water.

Then little mortal Apollo in all of his formally divine glory flies his Myrmeke squadron around the front of the statue right in swinging range. They dive at the last second but it appears that they got clipped anyway because their mounts awkwardly glide and crash out in the dunes with a puff of sand. That’s not even the worst part because the Colossus begins advancing again. Cas is aware that the arrival of Apollo and the fall of the barrier is correlation not causation but she still wants to beat his ass and toss him into Long Island Sound just for his timing.

“Chiron, my mentor, my friend, I need a lift.” Chiron is faster than Cas and can run at high speeds without needing to rest after five minutes like she does. He’s also not a horse and will be getting back at her for this later. He sighs heavily but motions for her to jump onto his back before running her down to the crash site. The good news is that everyone is alright. The bad news is that they have maybe a minute before the lazily walking statue makes it to the beach.

She’s about to ask what their plan is when Apollo beats her to it, “I’m going to enchant an arrow with sickness, then shoot it into the statue’s head. It should be hollow and the ears were the only visible opening as we circled it.” Oh, it’s eleventh hour plan time, is it? “The arrow should release enough disease to kill the Colossus’s animating power...or at least to disable it.” Cas mulls it over while the others are asking questions.

Typically, automatons take on multiple similarities to the organism they’re mimicking and the statue is a giant man so a good plague should kill him. Three cheers for biological warfare. It’s great provided that this disease is contained.

“Lord Apollo,” She slides off of Chiron’s back as she speaks, “Your plague arrows have destroyed entire cities. Can you contain it to the Colossus?”

“Not to worry,” She’s worried, “I don’t have enough divine power for that sort of feat. We won’t catch Black Death or the Spanish Flu.” Small mercies, but did Apollo just admit honestly that he wasn’t strong enough?

Also, Apollo swore on the River Styx not to use a bow just the other day but he would have already broken that vow in the woods. Shit, she encouraged a god to break a vow on the River Styx. Regardless, he won’t be making the shot from here. The Colossus just took its first step into the shallows sending the Aphrodite campers retreating up the dunes but even standing next to the statue that shot is still one hundred feet up. 

Her question is answered by the universe again when Nico lands the flying chariot near them with no Sherman in sight.

“Nico,” He looks at her with wide eyes good, “Where’s Sherman and his team?”

He says nothing but stumbles dramatically into Will’s arms who makes a point of taking the ‘Lord of Darkness’ away for rest and gatorade. Real fatigue or Avoidance? She doesn’t care right now because people know better than to just alter her orders like that in the middle of a fight. In the distance Cas hears a voice yell, “I’ll get you, di Angelo!” She sighs and so does Chiron.

This is a battle, children.

At least she knows Sherman is alright.

There’s a shuddering blast and one of the ballistae hits the Colossus’s knee at just the right angle and forces it to drop so that it looks to be genuflecting towards the camp. The right hand clutches heavily at the rudder to keep itself up right. Suddenly, whatever Apollo’s plans are don’t matter as much to her because Cas is sprinting across the beach at her top speeds towards their artillery waving her hands over her head like she’s trying to land a plane.

“The rudder! The club!” She hopes they hear her, “Aim for the club! Knock it down!” Travis and Connor look over at her shouting but don’t seem to understand. She runs straight into them instead. “Aim for the club and the arm! Quick! Before it recovers!”

There’s scrambling as the teams attempt to realign their respective pieces of equipment but soon there are flaming boulders raining down on the arm and rudder instead of being spread across the whole body. The Colossus raises its left hand to provide some cover for itself but it’s ineffective and a few good volleys hit the wrist and the handle causing that to buckle too. The Colossus tumbles sideways into the water sending a wave of sand and water all the way up the beach. 

A localized storm cloud forms over the downed statue casting a shadow that a black dog with a person riding it falls out of. Well, look who it is. The late arrivals to her wonderful day are none other than Mrs. O’leary and Percy Jackson. Mrs. O'leary jumps from the Colossus’s chest to the sandy shallows below them as Percy summons a huge wave of water to destabilize the statue's attempts to roll over and push itself up. He’s late as fuck but at the very least he’s here after the hard work is done.

From her vantage point Cas sees Apollo running to intercept Percy with his children and Chiron trailing behind him. She calls for a cease fire because it’s a better idea to save their munitions for when the statue tries to get up again than to keep hammering it and hoping they can smash it to bits before they run out of pitch coated boulders. Also friendly fire.

She and the others watch with bated breath as scrawny armed Lester Papadopolous knocks an arrow with a sickly green aura and draws it back on a bow with a much higher draw weight than he should be able to manage. The Colossus is still trying to right itself without much success, not unlike a turtle flipped onto its back, when Phoebus Apollo releases his cursed arrow that flies straight into the ear of the downed statue. It’s metal hand claps over the ear with a resounding gong but it’s too late and the Colossus arcs up off the ground while holding its head like it’s in pain.

Should’ve stayed the hell away from them then.

A massive shudder runs through the statue before the head blasts off at the neck and skips several hundred feet West down the beach while the body finally collapses unmoving into the shallows. The cheering is deafening as the Colossus stops moving and Cas is wrapped up in a hug with the Stoll brothers. In the distance she can see the Apollo campers closing rank around their father to congratulate him on his successful shot so it falls to Chiron to greet Percy.

She will be having words with Percy later about the meaning of ASAP but for now she’s content to cheer because it doesn’t look like anyone was hurt. So win.


	6. Prophecies are Limericks Now...Which is a Bad Thing (?)

Clean up is set to be fairly simple because most of the ‘fighting’ took place in the water. Very nice compared to the last time Cas dealt with a battle on Camp Half-Blood soil. A relief actually. No injuries either other than some minor burns on the formerly missing campers and Apollo and some Hay Fever in the kids that were near the Colossus when it’s head blasted off. (He killed it with allergies….) It’s possible that they may have over prepared with regards to the medical tent since they’re all being loaded up on antihistamines and sent on their way with a bottle of water. She’d rather that than the other thing though.

She corners Percy while he’s trying to direct campers to wrap chains around the Colossus’s remains.

“What are you doing there, Katara?” He jumps and turns to look at her sheepishly but Cas is not disarmed by the green puppy eyes and the ‘I’m a good kid’ smile. Nope. She’s been dealing with this since he was fourteen.

“Sorry, I was late...I didn’t charge my phone.” Of course he didn’t. It’s still a new luxury so he can’t be expected to be used to it properly yet. No one was hurt and everything turned out okay this time.

“Awesome, don’t do it again.” But back to the matter at hand. Cas waves at the dead statue, “What are you doing?”

“I'm planning on calling up some friends to drag it down to my dad’s palace.” What? That’s just….

That’s a dumb plan. This is a giant resource of celestial bronze and undead Roman Emperors have just declared war on the camp but Percy wants to get rid of it.

“Jackson,” He freezes as everyone does when she uses their last names, “Why is that a good idea?”

“Ummm….because we can’t leave it on the beach?” Cas needs Annabeth. Like yesterday. This boy is a mess without her sometimes.

“Brilliant, truly genius thinking, but on what planet is it a good idea to throw away all of that bronze when we can use it?” Also, she wants about fifty pound of the stuff for....things. 

“All of it?” He gives her that confused baby seal look and Cas nearly forgets about her annoyance with his lateness and his attempt to throw out all of that potentially awesomeness.

“Yes,” She shoots off a message to Nyssa with one hand saying the statue is property of Cabin Nine so long as they build more flying chariots-they need more than one at this point- and take up some project requests from the other cabins too. Cas bets that the Hecate and Athena cabins will be happy to help with whatever projects they come up with, as long as she gets her chunk to take back to LA they can do whatever they want. “I think we should leave the head though. It’s a good trophy.”

He sighs but calls off the kids clambering over their modern take on the end of the Planet of the Apes. “Thanks, Aqualad,” She squeezes his shoulder but tightens to the point where he starts squirming, “But if you fall out of contact again I’ll beat your ass. Got it?” The whole point of the phones was so that they can easily call for help if things go wrong. It defeats the purpose if they fail to charge them.

Percy grimaces, whether it’s from the nickname or her hand she doesn’t know, “Sure, sorry Cassie.”

“Great.” Cas smiles and leaves to make sure that none of the Hermes campers try to steal a ballistae. There’s no point because it’s too large to hide but it’s a challenge thing. It’s surprisingly not the Stoll brothers behind the attempted theft today-they’re still going for the mature counselor look-no it’s young Alice Miyazawa. Fifteen and spunky with a love of reflective outerwear that makes the Aphrodite cabin shudder every time she wears it. Alice knows, she does it on purpose. 

She’s just finished chasing Alice off when Chiron tells her to meet up at the Big House for an ‘important discussion.’ Gee whiz, what could that be about? Rhea showing up again after being gone for millenia? The Grove of Dodona sheltering the Greek and Roman sources of prophecy? Or maybe it’s about a Roman legacy of Apollo trying to kill them….again. So many possibilities and none of them are conducive to the vacation that Cas was originally in Camp Half-Blood for.

It was unexpected to walk into the Big House and hear, “I still can’t connect to the spirit of Delphi.” Rachel sounds very frustrated by that and she imagines it would be distressing to lose such an integral part of oneself seemingly out of the blue like that. “It’s been spotty and useless since the climax of the gigantomachy but now I can’t see anything.” Gods, isn’t that just wonderful, “This stupid book is illegible too.”

“Yes, that makes sense,” Apollo says, “With Python reclaiming the seat of Delphi the source of Prophecy is strangled. You won’t be able to speak or read any prophecies until he’s defeated.” Hopefully, he’s defeated by Apollo, again.

She makes her entrance to the sitting room then. Chiron is sipping tea from his wheelchair with Percy, Will, Nico, Rachel, and Piper fanned out around the space. Apollo is pacing near the old scuffed up coffee table. (Her initials are carved into it somewhere.) “So the goal is to defeat Python and Triumvirate Holdings?” Cas walks over and flops next to Piper on an oversized armchair, there’s plenty of space for them. “Python is old news but those Emperors….I know Nero, but who else?”

“Nice of you to join us, Cassie.” 

“Wouldn’t miss the doom and gloom for the world, my Lady.” Piper shoves her arm in response.

“Unfortunately,” Apollo eyes her with irritation for her late arrival but she smiles back pleasantly and knowing Piper, she’s mirroring Cas, “the other two are still a mystery. Unless the internet has provided any useful information, we are still very much in the dark.”

Nico takes this one, “The internet,” It’s always amusing when Nice talks about modern technology since he was born in the 20s, “Gave us a lot of information about a shadow corporation,” He nods at Cas, “My father will be looking into this as well seeing as mortal souls escaping justice is his domain.” Cas is moderately jealous of Nico’s relationship with his godly parent. It started off rocky but now he’s practically a prince with unlimited access to his father’s palace. She’s never been (hopefully it will be a long time before she heads back down there) but the stories about Persephone’s garden make it sound beautiful. 

It’s nice to know that the underworld is on their side for this ordeal though.

“True, but Nero has made himself immortal and I imagine the other two have as well. It’s more likely that they fall outside of Hades’s authority.” He seems more subdued than usual and it’s a weird look for Apollo. Actually, there’s someone missing.

“Where’s Meg?” Did a little girl die without her noticing? No one was calling for medical aid yesterday but that doesn’t mean she ever made it back from the Grove of Dodona. Apollo freezes where he stands and closes his hands into fists.

The room seems to cool several degrees and Cas realizes that she’s stepped on something of an emotional landmine.

“Cassandra,” Chiron carefully sets his tea down on the table, “Meg left to rejoin her stepfather, Nero. She believes he will forgive and protect her.” Nero, the Beast, that picks up demigods off the streets and gives them training and food in return for servitude.

She should have realized sooner but she was so focused on the camp. Gods, if she could she would destroy Nero then and there. More than once if given the opportunity. How dare he take advantage of a little girl like that. Cas glances back at Apollo expecting to see wrath and vengeance in every line of his figure but instead she sees sadness and determination. He wants to save her….

The god who once punished ravens for giving him bad news is now a boy that wants to save a little girl who turned her back on him and ran back to her abuser.

Wow. And that’s just after a few days of being a human. Meg must be something special. She looks around the room and sees the same understanding on everyone else’s face. Maybe the rest of the gods should vacation as mortals for a week, they might learn something.

“That was rude of me, Apollo, I’m sorry,” The sad former god looks up, “Anything you need, resources wise, I’ll help you get.” Cas can’t help him hunt Triumvirate Holdings across the country but she can make sure that he doesn’t starve or get lost while he doesn’t.

“Thank you,” Are those tears? “Will has already provided me with one of your phones but I appreciate anything else you’re willing to give me. So much of this is my fault.” Oh gods. He’s going to get emotional. Cas shifts uncomfortably in her seat and so do all of the heroes in the room sans Will and Piper, the only ones with healthy responses to emotional outbursts. 

Chiron is quick to pull the runaway train back on task, “I believe that it would best to discuss the prophecy you were given by the Grove now that everyone is present.” The look Chiron gives her could curdle milk. It’s not like she was intentionally late. There’s a lot of work that goes into cleaning up a battle, even a short one and she likes to see these things through to the end.

Apollo makes a valiant attempt to look unaffected, “Yes, it’s awful. Terrible. It’s a limerick.” She’s going to assume that’s significant to the former god of poetry and let it go. Though it seems to pain him on a visceral level he recites:

_ There once was a god named Apollo _

_ Who plunged in a cave blue and hollow _

_ Upon a three-seater _

_ The bronze fire-eater _

_ Was forced death and madness to swallow _

Cas recalls a time where prophecies were a bit more serious but chooses to take this as a sign that they’re advancing past the old ways into something new. Could be a good thing or a bad thing but forward is progress and she chooses to view it as a positive even if there is some very bad poetry in it.

Those middle lines hit her, Percy, and Piper at the same time, “Did the trees say anything else while you were there?” Percy’s excited and so are the rest of them. “Anything at all?”

Apollo waves him off, “It was all some garbled nonsense. Phrases of prophecy, nothing clear.”

Piper leans forward, “Still, some direction is better than nothing.” 

That resonates with Apollo and he lists off a few random lines the trees told him, “ Caves of blue, strike the hue, Westward burning, pages turning, Indiana, ripe banana, happiness approaches, serpents and roaches.” And that garbled mess does not resonate with Cas which isn’t surprising since she doesn’t have any skill with divining the future.

But, Indiana is a good place to start even if it’s more than 36,000 square miles of space and ‘happiness approaches.’ Next to her Piper laughs and Cas grins.

“I guess we know how you’re going to Indiana. We just have to wait for your ride to get here.”

“Ride?” Awww. Cas thinks Apollo may be growing on her. Like a fungus but it’s a colorful sort of interesting fungus.

“Happy is a name-well, the English version anyway.” Percy grins and whether it’s because someone other than him is going on this quest or because Leo is on the way is another matter entirely.

“Three seater, bronze fire eater, it has to be Festus the dragon. The current ride of one Leo Valdez.” The gorgeous piece of machinery can comfortably seat three people. And Piper may have answered Apollo’s question but she’s already in her phone probably texting Leo to ask why he didn’t tell them he was coming back around.

Leo is currently traveling with Calypso so that means all three members of the roster as described by the prophecy are met. Thank the gods. Crisis averted. This has already been more than she strictly wanted to be involved in any big quests. It’s really turning into quite the balancing act to be the camp’s Strategos and maintain her distance from being actively involved in demigod antics. 

Piper cheers next to her, “Leo wants to know how we knew he was coming. He should be here by a little after dawn tomorrow.” Yay. It’s been little more than a week since she last saw Leo but that’s still too long.

~~~

She can’t say for certain what exactly it is that wakes her that morning. The sun isn’t up yet and she’d spent hours lugging hunks of celestial bronze to the forges (Cas scored seventy five pounds of the stuff for what she has in mind.) so she should be happily sleeping until noon or something like that and then catching her flight that evening. Instead she’s walking East towards Half-Blood Hill where Thalia's pine tree and the golden fleece are guarded by the ever diligent Peleus. Judging by the lazy curl of smoke she can see rising from the hill he’s sleeping which tells Cas exactly how disgustingly early it is right now. 

There’s no need to head that way though, no she’s being called by the Athena Parthenos and the small essence of her mother present in the wisdom goddess’s right hand. She was about to question why she was called out before the sunrise when she spies the small quivering form crouched by Athena’s feet. It’s tempting to turn around and walk away, to call one of the more empathetic demigods out here but she can’t. Someone called Cas out here and she’s not one to run from a challenge even if it’s complicated emotions.

Sigh.

“I get that the sun god has to be an early riser but this is pushing it. Teenage boys need sleep.”

Again, as per the trend, Apollo jolts at her appearance. She thinks that he might divert her attention from his current state with a snappy one liner or a haiku but she’s pleasantly surprised when he cuts to the thick of it, “I don’t get all of these….” His hand gestures around his chest as words fail the god of poetry, “Those dryads died for me by putting out the fire and I didn’t ask them to. I never hesitated to send heroes to their death before.” Cas heard about that through the grapevine but she didn’t realize he was so affected by it. “And Meg….I just met that dumpster child and yet her betrayal hurts more than it should.” Sending people to die and being betrayed by a close friend, she knows why she was called out here.

Cas sits down next to Apollo and tries to think about how to best help him untangle his existential crisis on discovering humanity because somehow a god thinks she’s the best for this, “Those dryads are heroes and the Demeter cabin along with the satyrs will see them honored for their sacrifice but their deaths are not on you. Believe me, I know what it feels like to send people to her deaths,” Percy may have the charisma that got the demigods going during the battle of Manhattan but it was Cas that dispatched teams and oversaw the construction of the barricades and fortifications. 

She was the one that told Michael Yew and some other Apollo campers to use the cables on the Williamsburg Bridge as vantage points. Strategically, it was a good call at the time but in giving that command she as good as killed them. “But those spirits saved you, the Grove, and the missing campers by their own choice. You didn’t compel them so it’s not your fault.”

As for Meg, “And sometimes in a human’s life there are people we connect to immediately,” She sees blue eyes, sandy blonde hair and a thirst for change that would never be seen in his lifetime, “It doesn’t take long for people like that to become important and that amount time doesn’t take away from how much it hurts to have their knife buried in your back.” Cas had known Luke for four years and she never saw it coming and here Apollo only knew Meg for a handful of days.

Apollo’s breathing is uneven but she sits quietly and gives him time to master himself again. The sky is turning grey and she’s reminded of that October morning when she arrived home for the very first time. “I don’t deserve their help or their sacrifice. I’ve brought nothing but pain to this camp since I arrived.”

Gods, would all of them be this sad as mortals? 

“As far as deserving goes, if it’s freely given it's a gift and it’s very rude to turn down a gift, Lord Apollo.” His relations on the other hand, that’s a bit harder because Cas doesn’t hold Apollo’s actions against his children but as far as how his descendents act, well that does reflect a bit on him. Nero isn’t a demigod though, not by a long shot, and can barely claim to have a blood relation to Apollo. He’s a power hungry despot well past his expiration date. “And Nero,” Fucking narcissistic sociopath, “I don’t think he got the burning and conquest thing from you, but if you want to take credit for him then fix it.”

“And how exactly am I supposed to fix it like this?” He throws his arms comically wide, “I don’t have most of my divine powers and what I do have is exhausting to use, weak, and doesn’t last very long.” He should add self-pity to his list of godly accolades, plenty of heroes have done more with less. She’s trying to help here not become his therapist. 

Okay, do not insult Apollo. Cas is here to help so she should focus on that. Distraction sounds good since they’ve talked about plenty of emotions for now.

“For starters, sleeping is good for you so do that when given the opportunity. Don’t brood in front of powerful statues.” He must have been seeking guidance and wisdom from his sister.

“I am Apollo. I do not brood. I compose masterpieces that make audiences weep.”

Cool. Please, don’t do that right now.

“Sure, other than that go to Indiana and see what happens next.” That’s workable and her only advice for him at this juncture. Her job is finished, “So, who’s flying the sun chariot across the sky right now if you’re down here?”

He goes back to looking at her like she’s an idiot so that’s a good thing, “Unless the schedule changed, this morning it should be Ra as Khepri sailing his boat.” She is so sorry that she asked. Cas does not want to think about other pantheons. It’s very much a don’t ask don’t tell sort of thing because she’s aware that in other parts of the world other gods were worshipped and are possibly imprinted in those societies still. No one tends to acknowledge it though because between the Greeks and Romans, they have plenty of gods to worry about.

Cas sits quietly on the hill at Athena’s feet with her mother hanging over her head next to a very mortal Apollo, a very mortal Apollo who has just become very human to her, and watches the sun rise over Camp Half-Blood. It’s about seven in the morning when her demigod stomach bays for sustenance, “Right, rule for Heroes. Very important,” She jumps to her feet, “Eat and sleep when you can.” And offers Apollo her hand.

He stares for a moment before taking it and together they walk down to breakfast where she then dumps him with his worried offspring and joins Percy and Piper for breakfast.

They try to engage her in a conversation but it goes right past her. Cas got up early and engaged in emotional communication without caffeine which is very heroic and brave of her. She has no intention of talking with them even if it’s about Leo’s imminent arrival with Calypso and Festus until her customary quantity of that sweet bean juice revives her. She does side eye Percy because he twitches at every mention of the recently acquitted prisoner, Calypso. This should prove to be entertaining, finally, at the end of it, Cas gets some good vacation content.

The sound of wings and a glitchy roar preclude their arrival and all of the Hephaestus campers and the younger kids who are still obsessed with dragons (Peleus is just too boring supposedly.) run out to meet them in the field. There have been quite a few real dragons that caused havoc in Cas’s life so they’ve lost the appeal but Festus is something special. She can’t talk to him like Leo can but gods does she appreciate him and so would her father if he was here. Actually….Cas pulls her phone to record the beauty that is Festus in flight and landing. A living machine like Festus would be a perfect way to ease her father more into her existence as a whole.

She along with Percy and Piper walk at a more sedate pace and the crowd actually parts for them seeing as they’re part of the Argo II’s crew. It’s still weird to think about the fact that Cas was a part of a quest that will be talked about for a very long time, like the Odyssey or the Iliad. Or the original Jason and the Argonauts. Either way, Cas is about to hug the stuffing out of Leo when she sees Calypso for the first time. Wow, Cas has seen Aphrodite-and she will never say this outloud lest she call down all sorts of Olympian fury-so she can say with certainty that she finds Calypso to be prettier. Good for Leo.

Her being momentarily stunned does not stop Leo from hugging her now that they aren’t in a crowd of nosey judgemental mortals, “General! Long time, no see.” Cas does not hesitate to return the crushing hug.

“It’s always a long time,” She pulls back and smiles at him, “Introduce me to your lady, Dragneel, don’t be rude.”

“Right, right,” He lets go and gestures between them, “My brilliant general,” Oh gods, “Meet Calypso. Mamacita,” Let it be known that Calypso does not look flattered by that nickname, “Meet Cassandra Campeao.” 

Regardless of the accuracy of that introduction, she holds out her hand to Calypso and hopes she’s learned about modern human meetings. Her hand is held out awkwardly for just a tad too long before Calypso takes it, “It’s really good to meet you Calypso. Call me Cas, most do.” Her hands are not as dainty as one would think given her ethereal appearance. That’s also good, Leo mentioned that during his time on Ogygia, Calypso helped him with a number of projects so this is just a testament to that. There’s no way Leo could fall in love with some flower of a girl so Calypso must be tough.

“It’s nice to meet you as well, Leo speaks highly of you,” Godsdamn, this woman is a knockout.

“Does he?” Cas looks at Leo with nothing but modest surprise on her face, “Good things, I hope.”

“Of course, no mentions of a paint war at all,” She narrows her eyes at Leo.

“Calypso, if you want any dirt on your boyfriend just ask me.” The boy looks nervous. Good. If he wants to tell stories then she has plenty to tell as well.

The next few hours are filled with greetings and little Harley will not let go of Leo for fear of him leaving again. It’s unfortunate because Leo will in fact be leaving sooner than the kid is going to like to go on a quest with Apollo. The awkwardness of Percy greeting Calypso was something that deserved to be immortalized so she caught it on camera. Her phone has given her so much power and she doesn’t quite know if that was the best idea or not. For now, she’ll enjoy gathering blackmail while everyone else gets used to having them. Demigods adapt quickly so eventually they’re all going to be recording and sharing their antics all of the time.

Gods, she’s created a monster. It just doesn’t know it’s a monster yet….too late to turn back now.

Leo is quickly brought up to speed on recent events and while he doesn’t laugh at Apollo’s predicament due to the danger from Triumvirate Holdings it’s obvious that he wants to. So does Cas, she really wants to laugh all of this way but instead they’re in a reality where zombie emperors have divided up the country for them to conquer and rule.

Of course, he and Calypso have some tales of their own, “We were in the Sea of Monsters,” Cas grimaces because that place was gross and she will not be going back there….ever, “What is up with that cyclops? He just throws boulders at everyone.”

“He’s still there?” Percy is just as grossed out, “Cas took out his eye, how is he still going?” It was so gross. It popped but he shouldn’t have taken Clarisse hostage if Polyphemus didn’t want them to fight.

“Don’t know but he was rocking that eyepatch,” Nasty. “His aim was still really good though.”

They plan to hang around for a couple of days before heading to Indiana which is just great because Cas has some suggestions on blocking outsiders from using the Labyrinth to sneak inside of camp borders. She can’t stick around though so she needs to leave it with someone competent to see them completed or at the very least started. By the time it’s done, nothing but demigods will be able to enter the camp through the Labyrinth which is both highly convenient and more complicated than it sounds. He catches on quickly to her thinking and Cas realizes that she really missed collaborating with Leo like she did on the Argo II during the boring parts of the flight.

Lunch rolls around eventually and Cas is sad because she has to pack up the small amount of her things she has and her recently smelted seventy five pounds of celestial bronze bars stamped with her mother’s symbol. The car she drove to camp takes it all like a champ because she’s a german vehicle. She really hopes that the person there to ‘help’ with her belongings is aware that she can lift greater than seventy pounds with relative ease. 

She and Percy are leaving at the same time so they say goodbye to each other by the beach before he dives in to swim home. It was clearly a conspiracy because when she arrives at her borrowed car Chiron and Rachel are standing next to it with an absurdly fat book that she knows is filled with Ella the Harpy’s handwriting.

“No.” She won’t even give them a chance to speak.

“You only need to hold onto it until Reyna and Frank send a team to pick it up.” Rachel won’t even ask her straight out.

“Shall I say it in French? No.” Cas will not take responsibility for this prophecy filled book and she will not be bringing near her very mortal father because that will only draw trouble her way.

“Cassandra,” Dammit, Chiron. Her answer is no. “This is a good faith gesture. Now that we have a clear source of prophecy back we need to return this to the Romans. We cannot leave them in the dark.” This must be his not so subtle revenge for asking him for a ride.

It’s the age of technology. They can just text any prophecies from the Grove of Dodona to the Romans.

Ugh.

But then they’d be sending a message that they don’t trust the Romans to protect this valuable and potentially dangerous source of information. Securing trust is going to be very important in the coming weeks since their enemy finds its origins in the Empire. Cas looks at the book like it might jump up and bite her. It could, for people like her getting wrapped up ‘could be’ is very dangerous. 

“How long?” It had better not be more than three days because Cas doesn’t want this thing hanging over her head for Christmas.

“Reyna says it wouldn’t be more than two days.” Rachel knows she won.

Fine. “Two days, maximum.” She knows better than to jinx herself by saying something like ‘this had better not bite me in the ass’ and reluctantly tosses the book in the passenger seat with as little contact as possible. “Then I’m burning it.” Despite her annoyance with them, Chiron and Rachel both get hugs before Cas drives off to the airport, illicit demigod cargo in tow.


	7. Part 2-A Return to Modernity

The drive was both uneventful and highly stressful. Absolutely nothing attacked her or tried to run her off the road but she felt like something would, joy of joys. So Cas was a bit of a twitchy mess when she pulled onto the private airstrip attached to Laguardia, not her favorite airport but whatever. This is where she was told to show up.

She slipped out of the car and looked around but there was still nothing and she couldn’t sense any imminent danger either so all of this is in her head. Cas knows this but she also feels like she’s carrying a zombie emperor beacon-she was told not to call them zombies but Cas refuses to call them gods-which could at any moment lead Nero straight to her. It’s a little intimidating.

However, Cas makes eye contact with the person standing at the top of the stairs to the Stark Industries jet and doesn’t contain herself, “Happy! Long time no see! Shouldn’t you be leading security.” Since Cas doesn’t see anyone else and the pilot doesn’t have a good angle from her she bounds right up those stairs. No holds bard.

“The transfer papers and the training are in progress. Let’s get a move on, come on.” Aww. She missed his super serious work attitude and the way he not so subtly scans for threats. Not that he could do much against the current threat.

“Okay, awesome.” She’ll let him micromanage given what he was put through a week ago. There’s still a bruise on his face from a Hammer security goon.

Fuck that guy. May the world leave him in jail and forget about him.

Anyway, it’s good that it’s Happy who’s been labeled as her designated minder for the day because she jumps off the stairs and pulls a crate out of the trunk of the car. This thing just barely fit.

She hefts it up the stairs but Happy blocks her way, “What’s that?”

It’s seventy five pounds of magic demigod metal, “Christmas stuff.”

He sighs. Cas missed Happy which is crazy because it’s only been a few days. Either way, she carries the crate in and sets it on the floor near the back of the cabin before running out and snagging the volume of the Sibylline variety which has been left in her care against her wishes. 

“Is that for Christmas too?”

She did not miss having to filter demigod things out of her vocabulary though, “This is for social capital.” The Romans are going to owe her big for this, say, a questionably placed building in Manhattan purchased during war times.

Cas will be coming to collect on that eventually.

Happy is wise enough to let bygones be bygones and he relieves her of the car keys before snagging a seat opposite her. Evidently, someone will be coming to collect the Audi that potentially prevented a war and get it cleaned up. The road into Camp Half-Blood isn’t exactly well maintained.

Happy is also far less subtle than her father. When she was sitting waiting for the Shield entourage to show up her father kept cutting glances at her but Happy is just staring. She sits on her phone and catches up on emails because she will not crack first dammit. The updates are just starting to get interesting too because one of the managers on their intuitive prosthetics project reached out to her directly. 

Nice.

One day they will be able to integrate nerve fibers with electronics and Cas will be there to cut the ribbon when it happens. Since she gets busy on her phone it’s largely simple for Cas to ignore Happy while he stares her down so he breaks first and she wins. It only took him one third of the flight.

“Mr. Stark didn’t think you were going to come back.” Huh? Cas stops what she’s doing and waits for Happy to continue, “He thought you might stay away rather than deal with the fallout of everything.”

What? Her father is weird.

“I promised though,” She doesn’t think she’s done anything to suggest that she would easily break a promise but then again maybe this is a mortal thing, “I have a contract with SI still and I signed that stuff for Pepper before she let me head out to camp.” Literally, she has legal, professional, and emotional reasons to stay not leave.

Happy just looks at her, “Sure, Cassie.” Then he leans back to take a nap.

What just happened?

Cas spends the rest of the flight as deeply immersed in science as she can get while working from a phone. She makes a note to get a tablet sent to Camp Half-Blood for her to prevent issues like this in the future. When they land Happy has her wait so that he can wave off any other staff allowing her to carry the crate and stupid Roman book without any issues and surprise surprise there’s a fancy car waiting for them.

And this is how they got her. Cas had one eye on her work and the other on the boogie man waiting to jump out from her imagination so she easily settled into the routine of Happy driving her because she trusts him. So, it’s far too late when she realizes that Happy isn’t driving her to her apartment. This is too soon. She just wants another day to acclimate to that West Coast mortal lifestyle because a week of demigod things shifted her mindset.

In the realm of magic and gods nothing really surprises her but Happy Freaking Hogan driving her to her father’s Malibu mansion is a far bigger shock than she was prepared for and it throws her for a loop. Why?

“Happy, why?”

“Sorry, Cassie. Boss’s orders.”

That doesn’t sound like him, “My father wanted me express delivered to his doorstep?” 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” She’s not, “Ms. Potts did.” 

Oh no. She can’t get out of this then. It’s just like a meeting she’s forced to sit in on. Pepper has successfully herded Cas and her father into one building….are they together now? The rooftop explosive ending suggested that’s what happened but Cas didn’t exactly ask before she signed her name into Pepper’s hands and ran for the hills. 

“Hey Happy, are they together? Like officially or are they still being weird?” She would like to be prepared for that in whatever form it takes. Gods, she meant to ask Percy about how he acted around his step-dad when he started dating Ms. Jackson. Of all the things for her to let fall to the wayside, she chose that.

Ugh.

“You bet, about time too. I’ve been waiting since before Afghanistan so you can’t even complain.” Happy clearly has feelings about this, “It’s only gotten worse since this whole superpower thing became normal.” 

Ha. Yeah. That’ll be her fault.

She flops in the backseat of the car resigned to her fate as Happy radiates smugness for pulling one over on her. He must see this as revenge for the Expo thing. Whatever. Cas just has to make it through this and then she can….she hopes her bike is there and that it hasn’t been tampered with because she will pitch a fit if her father messed with her bike. Once this is done though, she’s calling a cab because she wants her apartment.

They pull into that absurd driveway and Jarvis sends a greeting to her phone. That’s really nice of him….is Jarvis older or younger than her? That’s not something that she ever really checked out. As far as she’s concerned he meets the metrics for living and since her father programmed Jarvis he’s her virtual brother. His age is relevant. Anyway she quickly exits the car and heads for the trunk. The book will be staying with her but the bronze is best stored in her father’s lab for now. Happy offers to carry the book but that is in so many ways a bad idea because like poor Pandora with her pithos that book is just begging to be opened. Especially since she’s being so cagey about it but Cas can’t help it because the whole situation makes her so uncomfortable.

He does hold the door for her so that she can get inside without floundering and the lights direct her right to the same sitting room she was in last week….which is filled with the same group of people as last week.

She stops in the doorway but Happy continues right past her and takes a seat leaving a convenient chair open for her. How nice?

“Is this an intervention?” She glances around at her father, Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy who are all staring at her. Once again only Pepper gets up to greet her. She’s in trouble and she really doesn’t know what to do about it because she doesn’t know what she did, “Because I’m thinking it over and I got nothing for you guys to intervene on.” Except maybe the evil cult corporation hell bent on world domination. But that’s a later, maybe never, conversation.

“Of course not, Cassie.” Yes, she is. “Why don’t you put that down and have a seat? Let’s talk.” She’s a dead woman.

“Right,” She tries to sit primly under the scrutiny because she knows what this is about, “We can do that.”

Her father is being conspicuously silent and seems to be waiting for something to happen. But it’s Pepper who gets things going. It makes sense because Cas hasn’t exactly been subtle with her hero worship of the older woman as an absolute powerhouse in the mortal world. No regrets on that because Pepper deserves it.

“Cassandra,” Shit, full name drop, “Now that everything has settled down and tempers have cooled,” Not hers, she fought a giant statue the other day but they don’t know that, “We need to talk about where you’ve been.” She chooses to wait for a question and Pepper doesn’t make her wait long, “When you first arrived you mentioned that you found out that Tony was your father when you were sixteen. Why didn’t you come to us then?” Us?

It’s an easy question to answer because she already did answer it, “I was pretty situated on my own by then and it didn’t feel right to drop the existence of a teen daughter on anyone.” Also, there was a war so she had higher priorities than her personal identity crisis.

“I had a right to know,” She freezes because it’s the first thing her father has said to her since she split from them at the Expo, “I had a right to know that I have a daughter running around.”

It’s true and fair but, “It wasn’t safe at the time.” Not when there was no telling what could be brought home. Sally Jackson was protected by the wrath of Poseidon and Frederick Chase was protected by Athena’s strength. Nike is powerful but doesn’t have the reputation to keep Cas’s exploits away from her father like the more powerful gods do. “It’s been….a really long five and half years.” She knows she’s right because the Giants used Tristan McLean against Piper.

“Meaning?”

There’s no getting out of this. He deserves to know what his daughter is and this is his inner circle. These are all loyal and trustworthy people.

“What do you know about the Titans?”

Her father is unfazed by her question because he’s obviously done his homework, “Parents to the Olympians that were overthrown by Kronos’s offspring that took offense to being food.” An apt but simplified summary.

“Right, well as you can imagine, Father of the Year, Kronos took exception to being cut up by his children and thrown into the deepest pit of the underworld. When I was sixteen, the Titans began moving against Olympus to supplant the gods.”

Everyone is looking at her with wide eyes but Cas really doesn’t want to elaborate more than, “We won though. We beat them. It took four years but we won.” Ending with a costly siege to Manhattan lasting three days that no one outside of their community knows about.

“Cassie,” Rhodey sits forward and there’s sympathy on his face. Oh. He sees it doesn’t he. Rhodey is a combat pilot and he sees her, “We’re going to need more than that.”

This is mean. There are many hard faces in this room looking at her right now. This is very mean. Fine. She can be mean back then. Whatever the purpose of this was, to protect her father from the evil interloping bastard or a genuine desire to understand, this is not a nice way to do it. They should have waited and asked instead of ambushing her the moment she came back. This is not what she needs right now.

“Anything post June 25, 2005 to August 18, 2009 is open season,” Her father looks ready to object, “Unless everyone else spills their deepest darkests to me right now.” She is an adult and while she’ll give her father and co. something, they do not have a right to everything. Those are hers and many of those memories will be taken to her grave. “You want to know why I didn’t run straight to you and the answer is in there.”

Rhodey takes over. He must realize what they’ve walked into more than anyone else in the room. Sure, her father went through untold horrors in his months of captivity that fundamentally changed him as a person but Cassandra survived war and so has Rhodey. “Why those dates?”

Malakes, “It’s when the war started and ended for me.” They can take from that what they will. It’s the truth. It started the day she came back from a quest after having spoken with her mother about her heritage and receiving her spear only to find out that in the two weeks that she was gone Luke betrayed them. The story ends with his death.

Gods, four years of her life as defined by the life of Luke Castellan.

“What war?” Happy says but Cas doesn’t look away from Rhodey. She’s decided that he’s the one who gets to push her on this as the soldier and the one who knows her least right now. 

“Walk us through it.” Okay, if that’s what they want.


	8. More Than They Bargained For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having a good day so I'm updating early!!! Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PERCY!!!
> 
> Please at least read where I mention PUNCHING NAZI'S in this note because its important. 
> 
> Alright guys this is a chapter where I attempt to more fully develop Cas's background and try to world build just a tiny itsy bitsy bit.
> 
> One, Rick Riordan gave me Percy Jackson and wonderful dynamic character whom I adore but in The Last Olympian we get Charlie and Silena as a surprise sad tragedy. When you first read the book it's like oh that's sad but I didn't really know these characters. Well, I adopted them. Sort of like how there are Marauders era Harry Potter fics, I'm developing characters that got minimal screen time. Not a lot, because they're dead but it provides a good seat for Cas who is more or less the designated adult among heavy hitting demigods. Not because she's the strongest but because she's the last one standing from her generation, which is sad now that I think about it. 
> 
> Two, I said I don't write romance which I don't because I can't. When you guys think about Luke and Cassandra's interactions I hope for you to draw parallels between Magneto and Charles Xavier. My thought is that Luke wanted revenge and to tear everything down then rebuild it better for the surviving demigods under what he thought would be a benevolent rule under Kronos. The foil is Cassandra who wants to render divine intervention unnecessary through competence and banding together. She wants to work with or without the gods and sees that demigod life is unfair and sucks. However, she looks at everything they can do and says we don't need Olympus's handouts all of the time we can keep ourselves alive and get ourselves out of these awful situations. Like Gabe to Percy or Nero to Meg or Ms. Castellan to Luke.
> 
> Three, I LIKE WATCHING CAPTAIN AMERICA PUNCH NAZI'S. I do have issues with his characterization but I remember the horrors of the Civil War in 2016 and how is rode all the way through to 2017. Pssst. ...I'm Team Iron Man now and always. That being said I am trying to hold off on my personal biases because I am writing Cas as a character from a militarized background that is highly analytical and intelligent. She also has an ego on her that she tries to keep in check. She won't always succeed. So I tried present her opinions on Captain America with that in mind. 
> 
> Four, the demigods are taught in Camp Half-Blood to be aware of their fatal flaws. Annabeth alway knew that her pride is dangerous. Bianca di Angelo lectures her brother on the dangers of holding grudges. Percy Jackson's ultimate flaw is being too loyal to the point where he cannot let go (please see the parallels to Anakin Skywalker and the good Captain.) As a result, I do not think it is possible for demigods to hero worship without a heavy dose of skepticism. Even Hercules- who has how many movies in mainstream media- is shown to be an arrogant bastard by Rick Riordan. So, when a demigod learns about the Captain they're going to look for those flaws because they know they're there. Every hero has them.
> 
> Cas lists her father's problems in the previous installment and she acknowledges them as flaws. I plan to ensure they are faced but they won't be overwhelming. Particularly on Cas's front because she's already done the overwhelming odds thing and has spent the last decade in a stable-ish environment...for a demigod anyway.
> 
> OKAY TO THE STORY!!!

And so she talks.

For the most part these are old and healed memories for her like the poisoning of Thalia’s pine tree and the accusations brought against Chiron as well as the subsequent quest that Clarisse was sent on to find the Golden Fleece.

“Like Jason’s Golden Fleece?”

Yes, father, “Is there another one I should know about?”

Of course, as a daughter of Ares, Clar is an acquired taste and no one would go with her so Cas volunteered herself because they needed that Fleece or the protections around the camp would fall. Just because they didn’t get along didn’t mean that Cas wouldn’t set that aside for the rest of the camp. Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson showing up were a bonus really. They won and got home to save the camp. It was a whole thing.

She leaves out the Atlas business because Cas wasn’t involved in that. No, she was finishing up at MIT. Instead when she arrived in Long Island that Spring Chiron recruited her to help map Daedalus’s Labyrinth because an entrance had opened up in camp and she needed to try to scout out the extent of the titan army within it. Clarisse and several other demigods had zero luck with this so she and the Stoll brothers had a go. This is how she ended up in Atlanta for the first time so it didn’t work. 

“Daedalus is real….and so is the Labyrinth he built for the Minotaur?” She’ll give it up for Pepper. Seeing as she’s the one who’s always giving her father a hard time for putting himself in danger she is taking this very well.

“Yes, but he’s dead now. And the Labyrinth is much nicer now too.” More devil may care and than actually wants to murder everything.

She made it home from the whole ordeal relatively unharmed.

“Define relatively unharmed,” Oh yay, her father decides to contribute to the narrative.

“Broken ankle, no big deal.” That sort of thing heals up in a couple of hours with Ambrosia, if that.

Her father just covers his face and sighs heavily and she can swear she hears him mutter something along the lines of, “Why me?” It wasn’t a big deal but the rest are looking at her like this is expected behavior….whatever. 

It was fine and when she got back she shifted her attention to trying to secure the area around the Labyrinth entrance instead with Quintus the weapons instructor that year helping her. He was excellent at refining some of her early trap designs. These were then used by the camp to set a clear path to and from the entrance that was guarded so nothing could get in or out without their knowledge.

She briefly mentions the Percy death scare but he got better so that was no big deal. 

This was the summer where Cas really distinguished herself and learned to be grateful for the lessons she learned during her formative years. When that army burst from the Labyrinth into Camp Half-Blood Cassandra made sure that everyone knew it didn’t matter that her mother is a minor goddess. It was her planning, her organization, and her execution of said strategies that kept Kronos’s army contained to the woods so that they couldn’t flood the camp with sheer force of numbers. It also made it easier for Grover to scare them away with Pan’s blessing but that’s a tangent she doesn’t take the time to explain. 

Quintus actually being Daedalus hiding from his inevitable punishment in the underworld was a plot twist she didn’t see coming at the time. In hindsight she should have but it wouldn’t have made any difference because he gave his life to ensure that the Labyrinth would reseal itself….for a time. But it saved the camp from future invasion by monster shortcut until this past week when Nero slipped in using it. 

This was when the camp elected her Strategos which left her in charge of their defenses and battle plans because, for the first time since WWII, Camp Half-Blood declared war.

“World War II?” Yes, Rhodey. She pauses to wait for him to continue, “Demigods fought in WWII?”

“Yep,” Haven’t they talked about this before? Maybe not, “It was the last mortal conflict that had multiple demigods in high ranking positions within the US Military.” Also, Hades took advantage of all of the dying soldiers and civilians to start a fight with his brothers which ended in that whole promise between the Big Three about not having children anymore….that worked out.

“What about Captain America? Were they Howlies?” She stiffens and so does her father.

“Look, Colonel-”

“Rhodey.”

“Right, Rhodey” He’s all friendly now that he's starting to understand. Here they go, “I get that he’s like your first superhero and all that but most demigods have opinions about him and the general consensus is not nearly as glimmering as the vast majority of Americans.” Many of them don’t think he should have been chosen for the serum in the first place. Where Erskine saw potential many of them see someone very dangerous. From a biochemist’s standpoint, TB farm was her first concern, everyone knows how the man’s mother died so even if he was asymptomatic he could have been a carrier. And everything else in his public records, well, even a young Ares camper knows better than to charge into a fight while seriously weakened, you’re a danger to yourself and your allies at that point.

How selfish do you have to be to be willing to put your comrades at risk like that just for a chance at a battlefield? Especially with all of those other issues in his pre-formula days. Did he think basic training would cure his asthma or were his teammates supposed to carry him to check points when his lungs closed up? Then there’s the anemia and scoliosis in his early diagnoses. When demigods look at preformula Steve Rogers they do not see an underdog that wanted to punch Hitler. They see someone who wanted to fight and was willing to lie to do it even if it would put his comrades in danger.

There’s a lot of arguments. She and the other’s have opinions. The one thing they can all respect is the man’s sense of loyalty to his friends even if he did get incredibly lucky to save an entire battalion while looking for his best friend. If he hadn’t the man would have been thrown in a cell for going AWOL, especially since he was a very valuable asset. He dove behind enemy lines alone….with almost no training or back up reliant on abilities he had no measure of all for one man. Fine, she’s done a lot for her friends too but if the Nazi’s caught him….well there goes the neighborhood. Hydra would have gotten the perfected serum.

These are all things that Cas would love the chance to ask him about if Steve Rogers were still alive because she knows that a hero’s story always becomes exaggerated after death. She doesn’t know what he was thinking before or during the war and she doesn’t know what was added or redacted from the public record. For all she knows they added TB to his mother’s death to make his backstory even more of an underdog tale. Maybe he had bad seasonal allergies that were misdiagnosed as asthma by a doctor from before the time where DNA was accepted as the genetic storage molecule. 

Based on what she has to work with though….Well, she sat down with Percy a few months after the Atlas incident and explained that she would never forgive him if he damned the world to save one friend even if it was her or Annabeth. He got mad but Annabeth backed her up and their friendship was all the better for it afterward. The moral of the story is too much loyalty is a flaw, Percy has it. She thinks Rogers may have had it too. If that’s his big problem then it’s not such a terrible flaw but still dangerous if left unchecked.

The one thing that demigods can all resoundingly agree on regarding Captain America is that he had the unfortunate effect of reintroducing the world to the notion that there can be people with superhuman powers. It became harder for demigods to wave away casual displays of strength after that. So through the lens of how he’s affected demigods, she doesn’t like him.

He still could’ve been a nice guy.

Even so, she applauds the officers and enlisted demigods that fought in that war with all of those eyes on them. Unsung heroes and all that jazz.

“Wow.” Her father looks at her curiously, “Dad must be rolling in his grave right now.”

“Why?” Was her grandfather a fan or something?

Her father laughs, “This is amazingly refreshing.” He leans forward, “My Old Man was one of the head scientists for Project Rebirth.” Huh. They don’t teach that in the history books….for the likely reason that superpowers means enhanced which connected to her grandfather could link to Shield. “He never shut up about Captain America when I was a kid.”

“But,” She’s confused, “That’s like three years of history. He didn’t have anything else to talk about?” Her grandfather had a career spanning decades and he supposedly had nothing else to talk about. Now Rhodey starts laughing and none of it makes any sense to Cas but if it’s going to make someone happy today it may as well be them. 

They break for dinner at this point which she’s grateful for because Cas has to talk about the fact that three of her closest friends died within a week of each other and two of them were traitors.

Fun stuff.

Cas is content to munch on her pad thai with extra red pepper because if it doesn’t burn it’s made wrong while everyone else sits awkwardly. They seem to have realized that they goofed at whatever this was supposed to be. Honestly, they could have asked nicely instead of cornering her. She already came clean and apologized about hiding her identity unless it got lost in all of the heavy emotion of the time.

Whatever. They’re mortals but she’s decided that they’re her mortals now.

“Kid,” Her father weirdly shifts his chair to sit closer to her. It makes a sharp noise that makes him cringe, “So what’s in the box?” Movie reference? Good to know that she’s forgiven.

“The severed heads of my opponents.” But she’s still a little bit miffed. She feels a bit better when everyone collectively leans away from the crate, “Wow. Thanks guys, but it’s your Christmas present. I thought I owed you a good one.” After having avoided him for years and then lying about it.

Her father looks at her dubiously, “You celebrate Christmas?” Given her previously stated issues with Christianity, she understands his skepticism.

Some do, not Cas though. “Nope, but we do gift giving. It’s very American.” This year there was pine and holly put up by the Romans for Saturnalia. It was very pretty and she hopes they get to do it again next year. “You can open it since I’m leaving it here. It’s a waste of time to carry it around when I’m giving it to you anyway.”

“It’s a couple of days early.” Huh? So? Not everyone is around all of the time so Cas would just give the gifts as the receiver was available. She’s not going to take the crate away just to give it back.

“Is that a problem?”

“Typically, Christmas presents are given on Christmas.”

Which is very inconvenient since that’s only one day. “Uh…” Usually, if they get it in the ballpark of Christmas it’s fine, “Do you want to open it early?” Judging by silence, that was not the correct response. 

“Sure, what is it?” She looks around the room and everyone is pretending that they aren’t there.

“I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be a surprise.”

“It’s not alive, right?”

Not anymore, “No, there aren’t any holes in the crate.” But he still doesn’t make any move to open it. She’s suddenly thinking that she made a mistake, “It’s seventy five pounds of celestial bronze. We use it to make….well everything really. But it’s pretty light for its level of durability so I thought you could play with it or something.” Maybe he’ll make something Iron Man related. Since she has three zombie-emperors after the demigods she’d feel better if the mortals in her life had some extra defenses.

Should she tell them about it?

Nah. Not now. She’s not a direct target since she’s not traveling with Apollo and she has no plans to get involved more. Piper keeps her dad completely out of the loop so Cas is giving them more than Tristan McLean gets and Piper spent most of her life believing she was a normal human. She’s a good measuring rod for Cas to use here.

Her father has made his way over to the crate by this point (the Sibylline text is on the ground next to Cas, near but not touching) and snapped it open. Cas isn’t the best in the forge, that is straight Hephaestus child territory, but she can commission her designs from them which she can then build and modify as needed. It’s not unlike how Jarvis machines parts for her father and Cas in the lab. So these bars were not smelted by Cas personally but by Nyssa as thanks for giving her cabin command over the fate of the Colossus. (They both agreed to leave the head on the beach. It looks good.) And since it was Nyssa it had to be both well done and aesthetically pleasing, hence the Nike’s wings stamped on the bars. Anyway, her father easily picks one of the bars up to inspect it more closely.

“This is not bronze.” Ah, the weight thing. Or is it the slightly glowing thing….she’ll pretend it’s the weight thing.

“Technically, mass spec says it is but if you calculate the density it’s closer to six grams per cubic centimeter than the expected 8.5-9.” She still doesn’t know why. Her father can probably figure that out and judging by the gleam in his eye he plans to. This was both meant to be a Christmas present and a sorry-I-sprung-my-existence-on-you gift so she considers it a success.

“I didn’t get you anything,” Uh….jet ride, free tech, and job….

“No problem,” Actually, “Just make something awesome with it, it’s not easy to get that much that isn’t already made into something.” Like armor and weapons and those are in use currently so she can’t melt a bunch of it down to give to her father.

Rhodey, the Air Force Colonel, is also a scientist-her father had mentioned months ago that he had initially wanted to bring Rhodey in on Iron Man from the beginning-so he can’t resist checking out the new thing either. “Where does this….celestial bronze come from?” He turns another bar over in his hand curiously. “And if it’s so difficult then how did you get it?”

Ummmm….well, “It’s mined from Mt. Olympus.” None of them react at all, everyone seems to have really adjusted to all the Greek stuff. “And I won it, contest of strength.” A blanket term for surviving demigod antics that sounds much better to mortals than ‘I helped kill a giant statue.’

No one says anything to that. Cool.

The acceptance thing makes everything much easier for the future because she does really like them. Pepper chooses that moment to bring the conversation back on the initial topic.

“Cassie, I’m sorry we all confronted you like this but after everything we needed some clarification,” And asking was too hard apparently, “We spoke with your father about hiding the palladium poisoning from us too.” Her father looks focused on the Christmas peace offering and Cas can’t help but question that logic. She definitely didn’t appreciate being jumped like this and she can’t see her father being amenable to it either. “It’s the best way to pull a secret out of him.” Okay, so they applied their methods for dealing with her father onto her….

Whatever.

There’s going to be an adjustment period for this new reality they’re in. 

“I’m over it.” Pepper looks doubtful and she should be but Cas will get over it eventually. She understands logically why they did it.

“You mentioned that 2009 was when the….” She hesitates.

“War, Pepper, it was a war.” That was fought mostly by and won by minors.

This part sucks for Cas. 

Because Charlie Beckendorf and the Princess Andromeda.

Cas starts by explaining that the Princess Andromeda was essentially a military transport for the vanguard of the titan army. Over the previous year they’d been waging guerrilla warfare to take out monsters in bulk like the convoy disguised as tour buses that attempted to cross the country. Cas and Charlie absolutely wrecked it with Greek fire and celestial bronze dust explosives. There’s some cringing in the audience when she mentions this but bombs are easy and she won’t be ashamed to admit she defeated monsters with explosives. The busses were small fries compared to the Princess Andromeda and the hundreds of monsters reported to be on it. With however many demigods fighting for the other side.

When they spotted the ship sailing North towards the New York Harbor they put a plan in motion that they’d had in reserve for weeks. Actual weeks of planning. The amount of charges she and Charlie made had people afraid to sneeze too close to the forges. Not that they would have made an unstable product but even she was twitchy about it. With the ship in sight they actually had to do it. Three is the lucky number for quests and three is the number that went.

It was Cas’s plan and she’s the fastest, Charlie went to help carry and plant the charges, and Percy because it was on a ship and he’s the muscle at sea. 

It should have been an easy infiltration in the middle of the night. They take out the engine room and go then boom. Titans lose the bulk of their forces. She should have pulled the plug the moment the pegasi touched down on deck when her instincts blared that something was  _ wrong _ . She thought it was the nearby monsters and never considered that it could be a lack thereof. 

“It was the correct call to continue.” Rhodey says.

“You can’t know that.” He doesn’t know how it ends.

“Weeks of planning and reliable intel on how many were supposed to be there. You had no other call to make.”

Right.

He’s a mortal but….it’s nice to hear that from a third party and not people who’ve always been on her side.

Her father tenses when she mentions that Percy ran off to buy them some time since they weren’t ready yet but of course it didn’t matter. They were caught but the charges had already been set and the trigger concealed by Charlie. Kronos was on the ship and they couldn’t pass on the chance to end the war then and there even if they went up with him.

And Kronos.

Standing in front of Luke Castellan’s body hurt her. He was her first friend, the first person to reach out to the too serious, too arrogant, brat and help her figure out how to people. But he wasn’t Luke, the oppressive weight of the air around him and the wrongness of the way time seemed to warp in his immediate vicinity showed her that. Cas couldn’t stand up to that. She was barely a flea in comparison and Percy was more like an angry corgi but he still challenged Kronos to eat up time.

Then Kronos said that godsdamned word that she hates. 

Traitor.

There were only enough monsters and demigods to man the ship because the titans had known they were coming. A traitor told them. Another Luke Castellan was hiding at Camp Half-Blood somewhere. Someone high up that knew the details of the plan, which meant another head councilor.

She’s ashamed of this because she froze. Cas did not react well to finding out that someone she worked closely with on this betrayed her and the others and she froze at the worst possible time. Everything happened really fast and Charlie was grabbed up by the neck but Cas was thrown overboard by the force of the water that the bleeding Percy called down on them.

And then the whole thing went up….

Charlie was definitely dead, Percy was MIA, and she was floating in the wreckage of the Princess Andromeda. She dragged herself to shore and hotwired a car to get back to camp with the news.

Cas gives this information like a report, with dry eyes, because Charlie would laugh at her for crying over him but Happy and Pepper don’t know that. They’re crying and she doesn’t really know how to feel about that since they weren’t there and they didn’t know him.

“Do you need to take a break?” 

So that this can take even longer to get though? Thanks Rhodey but hard pass, “It’s only a few more days.”

Her father though, “Did you find the traitor?” He’s angry on her behalf and on behalf of her brilliant friend. Charlie would have done so well in SI. They would have taken over R&D eventually.

Charlie is gone.

“Yes, but,” Silena meant well, she was trying to save them. Kronos lied wearing Luke’s face and promised to protect the demigods, “It wasn’t what you’re thinking.” Silena wasn’t looking to profit, she only wanted to save them and she fell for it. And people died.

Silena didn’t believe Cas initially when she tried to tell Silena what happened with Chiron’s help. Annabeth took the news of Percy’s disappearance surprisingly well but they knew he’d be back and he did come back. 

Cas and Clar sat with Silena while she cried over Charlie’s empty shroud and failed to understand at the time why she was muttering that it was her fault. They thought it was grief.

And then they called a war council, where Clarisse’s pride and stubbornness cost them precious resources when she refused to move the Ares cabin from the Camp over that fucking chariot. Cas nearly set it on fire for spite.

“She commited insubordination right before enemy contact and you let her.”

Ah. Rhodey sees it as commanders in the same army….what’s a good mortal analogy, “A lot changed after the war but before the cabins were more like the EU than the United States. So a bunch of allied countries not states in the same nation.”

Rhodey huffs, “Small country.”

“Greece is small.” Way smaller than the States. “But yes, she could pull her siblings from the main force and hold them in the camp.” It’s fixed now because with a majority vote a large cabin can veto a councilor’s decision. She’s happy she has zero siblings, nothing would get done in a cabin full of ambitious and overly competitive demigods.

The knowledge that the gods left a group of children to defend their seat in NYC horrifies her audience. Again, there is shockingly little surprise at the location of Mt. Olympus which is nice but what were the gods supposed to do? Let Typhon march across the country unchallenged? Send demigods to fight him?

Ha.

Because that would have ended well. Many would have keeled over from looking at him.

Percy nearly did and that was just a projected image.

There was no one else to defend Manhattan other than the ragtag army she had under her command with a mean age of sixteen ranging from twenty three to thirteen. They only had to hold it until the Olympians took down Typhon and returned to their seats of power.

“Thirteen?” Happy is as quiet as she’s ever heard him when he speaks.

“He’s a Child of Athena. He’s okay.” Cas kept him as a message runner that first day because even with a stolen cell phone it was hard for her to send instructions to the multiple contact points she had to manage. They retreated fast.

She doesn’t-it’s hard to explain to mortals that have never experienced magic what it felt like when Kronos removed Manhattan from time. Or the terror she felt as all of the mortals started pulling over or crashing around them as they fell asleep even if it was a relief that a bunch of terrified mortals were out of the way. Or the anger she felt when the present councilors vetoed her direct involvement in the initial battle. Gods, it was horrible for her, standing back at a command tent at the base of the Empire State Building while her friends and family fought.

“They needed you giving direction, not fighting.” Thank you, Rhodey.

“Would that have made you feel better?” His face tells her that it wouldn’t.

Her father is silent while she talks about the Williamsburg Bridge and all of the trapping and redundancies she put in the small amount of time she had to secure half of Manhattan and remove as many innocent people from the streets as she could. That she dispatched a bunch of Hermes children to steal cell phones from sleeping people and medical supplies from nearby stores seemed to impress him though. 

She remembers telling Percy to shut up about it. The monsters already knew where they were so there was no point in switching out phones constantly when she needed them to save the ten digits to the phone she picked up for clear lines of communication. And for the medical supplies and whatever else they stole….they were fighting to save the world. 

Desperate times.

And that random John could give up his blackberry so that Cas could keep in contact with Battery Park. They were prepared to die for these people and they just needed a phone, some food, and bandages.

Seriously, put money down? Not the time.

Not that it mattered because by day three they were pushed back too far despite the edge Daedalus bought them. She had been so confused when the first statue ran by until a call came in from Annabeth explaining their backup. Cas had barely registered the implied ‘Daedalus had a plan to conquer Olympus on his own’ because she was that desperate. As they were pushed back Cas was forced to engage the forces directly or else they would be bottled to the Empire State Building too soon.

She doesn’t explain Thalia and the hunters because TMI. Or the Centaurs….

If Cas couldn’t explain to a group of mortals what magic felt like then she definitely doesn’t adequately explain the sheer horror of staring down the Lydian Drakon. A two hundred foot poison spewing winged serpent that was fated to be killed by a Child of Ares, which they didn’t have because of a chariot.

“Fate?” Her father scoffs for the first time while telling her story.

“It’s not like all of the plot points are written down for us,” She bites her lip and thinks about how best to approach this one, “There was no telling what it would do on the way there but that drakon’s existence would always end with a Child of Ares like how a movie is alway going to end in credits.” Nailed it.

Cas tells them about the dread she felt as Percy called for a retreat and then the surge of hope because the Ares Cabin came charging down the street. Cas knew something wasn’t right because that was Clarisse’s armor but the wearer was too small. And she just knew as Percy yelled that Clarisse could kill the drakon that something horrible was going to happen.

And it did.

She died. Silena died a hero. She betrayed them but she was a hero. And Clarisse. 

Gods, Clarisse demolishing that drakon is still in Cas’s top five most amazing things she’s ever seen but that sight will always be shadowed by Silena holding that charm up.

It was all really simple for Cas before the war. Luke was her first friend because they were in the same cabin and they were naturally gifted in combat even among demigods. And because she was close to Luke and a child of Nike, Annabeth laid claim. They’re like sisters. She met Charlie in the forges when she was fourteen and got into engineering, they clicked. But Silena, Luke introduced Cas to Silena when the other girls shunned her for being too different. Silena helped a really messed up thirteen year old learn how to be a girl and no Cas will never be as girly or glamorous as that beautiful daughter of Aphrodite was but she liked doing their nails together by the lake sometimes. Even if they ended up chipped again the next day.

Cas didn’t cry while talking about Charlie but there are tears on her face as she talks about verbally eviscerating anyone who tried to call Silena a traitor. Cas stubbornly sets her jaw and dares her audience to challenge her stance.

They don’t.

She wishes they did because then she could get angry again rather than miss her friend. Instead she pushed that sort of ‘I don’t care’ feeling that comes with exhaustion, either emotional or physical, and finishes the story as quickly as she can. The gods came back and repaired the city so that no one knew it happened.

Luke died a hero too. No one can tell her otherwise.

No one in her captive audience says anything for a few minutes after she stops talking. It’s after midnight by now and she’s exhausted but this whole situation has her in the mindset of don’t show weakness. Which is just great.

“I get it,” She glances at her father who has a hand over his face again, “Why you stayed away….I get it. You didn’t need to deal with what I was up to and do….that.” It’s good to hear that he understands because demigod business isn’t something she could have protected him from. Then he has to open his mouth again, “How many d-”

“Do not.” No. “The answer is too many.” It’s late and she’s tired, “Is my bike here? I wanna head back to my apartment.” And away from all of this for the day. Maybe she’ll be really mean and show up hours late to work too.

Everyone stops and looks at Happy while Piper hisses, “You didn’t tell her?”

Tell her what? Come on, Happy. Tell her what?

“What did you want me to do? Cas is a superhero,” Flattering but nah, “She would have jumped out of the car.” 

This is going to be good. “Tell me what?”

Her father smiles sharply, “I want you to know that I disagreed with this.” But then looks at Pepper, “Yes dear, what didn’t Happy tell Cas?”

“Cas,” Pepper looks reluctant to say this, “I already submitted the paperwork for your identity,” Cas nods. She agreed to this, so what’s the problem? “Since it’s so high profile there’s a chance that it could leak before it’s processed and according to Happy….”

“Your security sucks.” Nice of him to say.

Where is this going?

If it leaks that there’s paperwork filed to change her name to Cassandra Stark then it just saves them the trouble of telling everyone.

“Cassie, you’re going to get mobbed by reporters and paparazzi when they find out about you.” So? It’s not like they can hurt her, “And what happens if you respond to defend yourself from someone who gets too touchy?” Pepper is heavily implying some-

Oh.

Right.

Mortals are squishy. That’s kind of how she got to where she’s sitting now.

“I could seriously injure or kill someone and it wouldn’t even qualify as self defense.” She’d damn herself and all of the demigods. Everything she’s working towards would be dead in the water for years if not decades. That sucks. Where is she supposed to sleep now? “So where do I-”

“Here.” Her father says, “Or if you want, we can hide you in some hotels until this blows over.”

“But it would be more convenient if you stayed here, temporarily.”

Cas blinks at the tag team...they’ve turned against her. Then she looks at Rhodey at Happy waiting for the punchline or someone to shout ‘Punked!’ They didn’t.

“Correct me if I’m wrong. But mortals typically move out somewhere in my age bracket, right?” Otherwise, those late night reruns in diners near MIT totally lied to her, which would be really unfortunate because she learned a lot about the mortal world from those mind numbing tv shows while studying and eating pancakes at 3 AM. Also movies. “Moving in is generally frowned upon.”

Whatever interesting looking movie they could get their hands on at camp. And whatever stories the summer campers told about life in mortal schools, not much usually since they typically prefer to keep their lives separate.

Everyone looks expectantly at her father, “It’s temporary, obviously,” Right, “Just until the paperwork comes through and the results of the DNA test are back already so that’s all done.” 

What? He already submitted it. Huh, maybe he wouldn’t have minded if she had done one before talking to them last week.

“Tony!” She doesn’t know who yelled first.

“What? She agreed to one in the office. Jarvis has the recording.” That’s true not that she was complaining anyway. Saves her time.

“So, I can live here for however long it takes for all of my documentation to be updated….which is likely to be….” Cas looks leadingly to Pepper. The Queen who knows everything about the way the mortal world works.

“Three months.” Okay, could be worse. This place is big and she can alway run off somewhere else for a while. Cas has slept at SI before so it’s not like she’s hurting for places to crash. 

“Right,” She can live with that, “So, can I go knock out somewhere now?” Cas has a feeling that the older adults in the room want to talk about her and she would like to get out of the way in addition to sleep. She logically knows that this is a good decision and she’ll decide if she’s angry or not in the morning. Jarvis directs her to a room and Cas doesn’t even bother to change out of her jeans or anything. Sleep calls and she’s done with these mortals for at least six hours but first she slides that stupid book under the bed.


	9. Let's Lighten the Mood (Please)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much in the way of plot advancement here people but...after last chapter our intrepid hero earned some less stressful conversations.
> 
> For those of you in the comments (you know who you are <3) I have been inspired by your words and solved a problem that had been plaguing me since the story's onset.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> And enjoy the chapter!

All of her stuff is here.

Literally all of it. She hopes it was a woman that took care of all of this. It’s disconcerting but hardly the weirdest thing to ever occur around her seeing as Cas has been dealing with cleaning Harpies since she was twelve years old. Grumpy chicken women used to take the parts she’d leave out on her bunk in the Hermes cabin back in the day.

She rolls out of bed and with windows automatically brightens and begins displaying the weather for her. Seven in the morning, sunny, and sixty four degrees fahrenheit. Damn, why can’t the weather in NYC be like this in the winter?

“Good morning, Dr. Campeao. Shall I alert Mr. Stark that you are awake.” 

Considerate. And not normal. Usually when she wakes up here Jarvis is quick to remind her where her things are and herd her to the door.

“Let me clean up first, J.” Rather than ask about the change she’s just going to assume her permissions have been upgraded but hearing that her father is awake….he never went to sleep last night. Jeans and a too tight Camp Half-Blood shirt are not the best pjs but ensuite bathroom is a nice luxury she got used after Annabeth helped design the Nike cabin. (It’s glorious.)

It’s not long before she’s wandering down to the kitchen, “Is my father in the lab, J?” 

“Yes, doctor.” He says nothing else. Cas really hopes that he’ll elaborate but he doesn’t.

“Do I have access?”

“I’m afraid Mr. Stark has just started another project and would like to keep it to himself for now.” Right. They don’t really know each other so there’s no reason for her to get carte blanche in his house because her DNA is half him. She moves around to the coffee machine instead.

Cool. Totally fair. Trust on both sides is strained and it was a big deal for him to offer his house to her for three months so Cas will not overthink this.

Nope.

“Right, breakfast.” She comes alive to the scent of coffee, “What do we have in the fridge?”

“Eggs, bread, and gluten free waffles.” She snorts. Oh that makes up for it. Her father is so Cali. He doesn’t have any allergies or celiac disease which she knows because the man can put back junk food after a lab binge. Nope, trend diets.

Precious.

She will never let him live this down. For now, she’s about to eat most of it and hopefully within a reasonable amount of time her father will return to the rest of the world and she can figure out where her bike is.

It takes her father until around eight to wander up from the lab. Jarvis must have snitched on her because he heads straight for the kitchen or maybe he’s summoned by the siren scent of breakfast and coffee. There’s sort of enough food for a person of his size and her so she slides some over. The worst of Cas’s temper died overnight after sleeping and the rest was killed by coffee so she decides to test the waters with her father today.

“Morning, old man.” He certainly looks it with the bruises under his eyes and yet he still looks better than he did before they finished the new arc reactor. She should have noticed that he wasn’t healthy….

“Kid,” He doesn’t look away from the coffee, “Pass the go juice.” She gives the whole pot over because he needs it more than her from the looks of it. From the careful way her father checks the temperature and then drinks straight from the pot he’s not ready for any kind of conversation. It’s fine. She’s already had three cups and she has eggs and waffles which aren’t horrible. When her father doesn’t do anything other than drink coffee she nudges the food closer to him because that much black coffee with no food cannot be good for his stomach. He raises a brow at her but otherwise doesn’t comment as he picks at it.

By the time he’s half way through it she can’t wait anymore. This has been bothering her, “Gluten free?” He’d better have a good excuse. “That’s so Cali.”

“First of all, respect your elders” She opens her mouth to do just that but, “No don’t interrupt, it’s a PR fad to make me more normal. And what does that even mean? I’m Cali? No, I’m worldly and awesome.” She snickers because he’s so full of it.    


“You’re a fad follower because the PR office told you to? I hoped they were just sitting there unopened but I’m going to have to reevaluate every moment of admiration I’ve had for you.” Oh no, that was unintentional. She resumes eating and prays he lets it go.

And of course her father hooks on to her slip, “You admire me.” Sigh. Dammit. If she is very very lucky she can get him to get him to forget about that. Otherwise...yeah she does not need him referencing this again or it’ll never stop.

“I did, but now I know you discriminate against elastic plant proteins and so I’m not sure anymore.” He looks moderately offended but she breezes by him to the sink. There’s actually no dishwashers in her father’s home which took her by surprise the first time she noticed but really he doesn’t need one. Eating here is rare enough that it would be a waste for him to own one and her father doesn’t waste space.

She’s never had the opportunity to see him do dishes though, maybe now she will.

“Just take over the whole place then why don’t you?”

She freezes halfway through cleaning her dishes and the pan. Did she over step somewhere? This is still his home that he opened to her and he’s only known her for a few months. “I am so sorry- I didn’t mean to make it seem like-” _ I’m already family _ , “If I crossed some lines I really am sorry. I guess I got a little too comfortable and hungry. I’m sorry.” What is it about upsetting her father that has her turning into a rambling mess? Maybe fully invading the kitchen without asking first was a bit much for her father.

“Stop,” He holds up his hand in front of her and her jaw snaps shut with a click. “I think we both are headed for an overly emotional collision course and that’s not really either of our things, is it?” Not this early or at any time actually. What she did for Apollo maxed her out for months, “Or are you one of those ‘talk about your feelings’ people? Which is fine, if you are. But I don’t...hmmm.” Nope, last night was given more like story telling than a feels talk. And the parts were she teared up well, she’ll deny it if it’s mentioned.

“Only people who get full access to my emotions are me, myself, and Chiron. He has the dirt on every demigod he ever trained and never spilled a drop of it. So, I’m not worried. You’re clear on that front...unless you want to talk?” If her father wants to discuss some things further she won’t say no but she will divert if it gets too close to things best avoided. Gaea, Tartarus, Apollo, zombie Romans….It’s an extensive list.

“Within reason.” That’s fair. It’s best if they draw the borders now.

“Yeah, totally, clean lines in the sand. Current demigod adventure stuff is off limits, but science and life stuff is open season.” She doesn’t need her father asking about current demigod events because Iron Man isn’t really helpful to them. If they get exposed because her father blew up Nero for her it isn’t likely to end well.

“Fair. As the parent I make the executive decision to not fill your head with my demons,” She nods, even as she holds back the smile at how easily he says parent. “Alright mi casa es su casa just don’t buy a new jet or a pony without consulting me.” She needs neither of those things so it shouldn’t be a problem. Does that mean that she get’s lab access when he’s not working on his secret project? Question for later once they’re both fully awake.

“Can I throw a rager?” This seems like an okay conversation so far.

“Only if I’m invited. If there is going to be a party on any property I own then I will be there and it will alway be legendary.”

She laughs because what else can she do when she gets to talk to her father like this, “Square deal, shake on it?”

He’s smiling as he reaches out his hand to her, “Is this legally binding in your culture? Should I get a witness? A lawyer?”

“Nah, we’d need a goat and an altar for that,” He pulls a face, “Kidding! Gees, old man. You are gullible when sleep deprived. No one does animal sacrifices anymore, that's barbaric.”

“Glad to hear, you know what, Jarvis, update Cassie’s security status. Full access.” Her eyes widen because that’s the keys to the kingdom right there.

She should say thank you, “You know, you once told me that you weren’t taking housemates.” Nah.

He heaves a dramatic sigh that Pollux back at camp would appreciate, “Then I found out that my daughter is a couch surfing bum and here I am.”

Couch surfing? She files that away for later consideration because it sounds like something she'd do and possibly regret with Travis and Connor. But they aren’t here right now….possibilities though.

“What’s with that book you were lugging around?” Ah. Yes, she was being weird about it so it was only a matter of time before her father asked about it, “Happy said it was some sort of bribe.”

This technically falls into the category of current demigod adventures but it also directly involves his house so it’s an exception, “Not a bribe. The Romans lost it but we found it, ergo they owe me a favor on Camp Half-Blood’s behalf.”

“What is it?”

She waits until he finishes taking another gulp of coffee because she’s not cruel and she doesn’t want any coffee coughed onto her person, “A transcribed copy of a Sibylline book.” Even without a wasteful spit take her father still coughs and gives her a look that says ‘are you shitting me?’ “It’s important obviously and since I’m returning it-well the praetors are sending someone to pick it up-I get a sizable favor out of it.” She’s going to use it to get that building in NYC because somebody thought it would be a good idea to hide that from her. It’s going to be a reduced price too since New Rome worked with Triumvirate Holdings to purchase it.

Speaking of….Cas probably doesn’t register as a threat on their radar. They won’t know much outside of she was a member of the Argo II crew as well as any publicly available articles regarding Dr. Cassandra Campeao. So again not much. However, she should still warn Pepper that they’re shady and to avoid them at all costs should they take an interest in SI in the coming months. The information Cas has on them suggests that they are money and business savvy even if it’s of the break your kneecaps variety so a very affluent company like SI may draw their eye now that they’re no longer hiding from the demigods.

They don’t get to come near SI or any of her people.

This is hers you stupid zombie Romans.

“When?”

“They said by sometime tomorrow. I said I’d burn it if they don’t show because I don’t make a habit of carrying things like this around.” It’s a beacon for ‘things Cas doesn’t want to deal with’ so she’d made sure Reyna and Frank were aware of her reticence in holding this for them. At her father’s near concern, which really looks more like outright skepticism, she says, “It’s only a problem if I have it for a while.” She hopes that she didn’t just jinx herself because that’s a rookie mistake right there. Cas does not endorse or encourage tempting the Fates.

He nods and changes the subject by having Jarvis pull up a file she’d been working on during the drive over. They slip into the world of science with both of them perfectly done talking about people stuff.

~~~

Cas was surprised at the number of warm greetings she received from the R&D department when she finally got to SI the next day. Then she realized that the majority wanted help with something too, which is cool, but come on there’s no reason that some of them should have stalled for almost a week because she was unavailable. SI did lots of things before Cas arrived. It still fills her with pride when she receives a coffee gift basket with the good roasts in it, SI scientists are awesome even if they’re a bit slow sometimes. Not Hammer Industries slow because no one else is that bad but still slower than most Hephaestus and Athena kids and way slower than Cas and her father.

It was just another normal work day for her ensconced in projects and consults until her calendar popped open in front of her. Seems Pepper decided that Cas would be officially on the roster for more meetings than before.

Fine.

Everything is normal including her bike. She checked it over before driving it and has elected to ignore that someone else rode it to drive it back to Malibu. Her father gave her a scandalized look for her suspicion that he might have made alterations without her present but...it has happened in the past with campers.

Cas is not ashamed of her protectiveness over her stuff.

Lunch was nice. Pepper must have been apologizing for the night before because she took Cas out for sushi. Without her father, so that was a perfect opportunity to do….well she can be subtle about some things. She was able to slip in some undercover warnings about Triumvirate Holdings like, “It’s really annoying when mortals use words and icons they don’t really get when naming things.” Pepper nodded thoughtfully and then she mentioned she, “had to look into them because if it’s something demigod related the camp needs to know, but I mostly found shady dealings, nothing straight up illegal but clearly questionable.”

She was very happy when Pepper said she would keep an eye on them if they approached SI between rolls of spicy tuna. Cas waited until they were both done eating (the best part about sushi is that it’s easy to have a lot brought to the table) to get into the more interesting conversation.

“So…. are you actually dating my dad?” Cas can be subtle about some things but this is not one of them.

Pepper smiles but doesn’t look surprised, “I was wondering which one of us would bring that up first. The short answer is yes.”

But it was a yes or no question…She hopes that her confusion is enough to get Pepper to elaborate and the Queen does not disappoint.

“A lot has changed for your father recently with you and Shield coming into his life,” True, “And he and I also need to work on trust since, while he made me CEO, he didn’t talk to me about….the palladium.” Right, Pepper’s known her father for years so it must have been very painful to hear that he had been dying alone like that. If one of her friends had pulled something like that Cas would probably have been very angry for a while. That Pepper doesn’t seem angry anymore tells Cas just how amazing she is.

She doesn’t know if she gets an opinion on this but Cas likes Pepper for her father.

But based off of pop culture and conversations with Aphrodite campers, “Then you two are taking it slow?”

Pepper laughs, “No, we see each other too much for that but we’re talking as much as Tony Stark can talk.” Ha. Must be like pulling teeth. “Are you okay with that?”

She must look like a deer in headlights, “Uh, do I get a vote?”

Cas has a mother that she’s spoken to three times in her entire life. She had some bad influences initially but he was male and never really a father figure….Chiron is a mentor that she will always hold in the highest respect but he has all of the baby demigods to look after. So Cas thinks she may have been channeling Pepper as a pseudo-mom figure at certain times but she can’t reliably say she knows what a mom is supposed to be like.

She will never call her mom….ever, it’s not something that Cas really wants to do and her own mother may take offense, but when Pepper smiles at her there’s something different about it, “Of course you do, Cassie. We know everything is new still but we both want you to be comfortable.” They’re talking in ‘we’ already.

But that’s just.

Wow.

“Sure?” That didn’t sound very confident, “I mean, yes, as long as you’re both happy.” Much better. 

“I’m glad,” Pepper reaches across the table for Cas’s hand, “I’m really glad that you came into our lives, Cassandra.”

Right, this is officially too much for Cas because Pepper is just too good to be true but she’s right here.

“Thanks, Pepper.” She awkwardly takes her hand back after a moment and gets ready to leave. The car ride back to SI is silent but not in a bad way because Cas has a lot of thinking to do and Pepper is kind enough to let her do it in silence. Just another way that she’s amazing. She may yell at her dad if he messes this up but if Happy has been waiting for this for years then maybe they're in the clear.

Cool.

As far as she can tell they really work and she doesn’t have any objections to something that will keep Pepper around even longer. Cas is committed, she will go down with this ship.


	10. Enter Wild Lightning Boy (Not Thor)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys I'm back again with another chapter on a day that I don't typically upload. And it's because I have both good news and potentially irritating news. I just finished the Burning Maze arc (yay) and that put my story at 63k which was so not that plan for the second installment. I haven't even finished Cas's actual story yet so we're looking at around 85k for this one. Sorry my guys. I want to get to the Avengers but I also don't want to rush and provide a terrible story. So as long as I'm 5 chapters a head in the writing I'm going to try and do 3 chapters a week instead of 2. 
> 
> Next, the title is a spoiler. We get a rogue Jason today. Jason is a character I like and find interesting in comparison to Percy and Thalia. He relaxes throughout HoO as a series but when we first meet him in the Lost Hero he's kinda stuffy in my opinion. Since Cas spent age 12-20 in the Hermes cabin with mischief makers and thieves she looked at him and said 'he needs to lighten up a little.' So Cas is friends with Jason and he's one of her people that she cares about but she likes to poke him.
> 
> It's friendship pokes.
> 
> We also see a bit of what Cas is like when she slips on reigning herself in. 
> 
> We also get more attempts by me to world build.
> 
> So, let's get to the story!

Cas is enjoying the amazing lab facilities of her father’s home that evening, mostly because she’s actually getting to work on something Iron Man related. They’re trying to cut weight and streamline the process of getting it on and off because it’s ridiculous that her father has to walk to a specific platform everytime he wants to put on and take off the full powered suit.

The suitcase model is useful but has the added problem of being carried around. That cuts it’s capabilities majorly because well, it has to be carried. The weight has to be reasonable which reduces combat and flight capabilities.

“No, dad. I will not carry it around for you,” So what if all of that weight isn’t an issue? The bulkiness of a fully armed suitcase armor would be an irritation also, “One of us would go insane spending so much time around the other for so long.” He’d been joking but he agreed with her assessment.

So the problem becomes, the suit needs to be fully functional but it needs to be more mobile.

“I can’t keep hoping the bad guys only show up when I’m at one of my properties.” To be fair, he owns many properties so he could feasible install the machinery necessary to put on and take off the armor in all of them. But that’s so….clunky.

“Why can’t the armor come to you?” She doesn’t expect something that teleports like her spear yet but he can fly supersonic. Surely, they can program the suit to fly to him, but then the suit needs to be able to fold onto him like the suitcase armor without losing the higher integrity of the Mark III.

And that was how they went from the kitchen down to the labs.

She’s currently trying to convince him to put more flight stabilizers on his back and sides so he doesn’t need to be reliant on the repulsors in his hands for flight. That would also make it easier for the suit to be able to articulate around him for attachment. It’s a work in progress because he’s more interested in the mechanics of the attachment point of the armor onto his person. This is also very important.

“Can I assume that you’re averse to some kind of lojack implant for the suit to lock onto?”

“I’m not a lost dog.” Fine, but that’s totally the easiest solution to his problem.

So they’re arguing over the benefits of something like bluetooth technology over an infrared sensor. Then they both realize it would be easier to ping the armor with a general call and then have a secondary for the precision attachment. It’ll take them a while and there’s no real hurry for it yet but it’s a fun challenge.

Then Cas has to work again, “Dr. Campeao,” her father pulls a face because they're both impatient for the name transition to be over and it’s only been a few days, “You have a call from one, Clark Kent.” Ah. He’s a day early.

So that’s who Reyna and Frank sent to her.

“Cool, put him through.” This should be interesting.

_ “Hello? Cas?” _ Jarvis must have weirded him out. The polite British voice is very posh and not very Cas but she likes J just as he is.

“Hey, Sparky. What’s up?” She knows the answer but it’s Jason. Her father doesn’t even pretend he isn’t paying attention, it’s not like she cares. If she didn’t want her father listening in then she would have taken the call somewhere else.

_ “Uh, hey. I’m like five minutes away from  _ _ 10880 Malibu Point…”  _ She sent the address to the Romans and Greeks earlier seeing as she’ll be here for the foreseeable future. Ha. Prophecy pun. Poor Jason must be a little confused by the location since technically she’s almost Piper’s neighbor while staying with her father even if Piper’s living in NYC right now.

“Yeah,” she doesn’t look up from the design in front of her and approves some optimizing adjustments that Jarvis suggests, “That’s me. J, will let you in at the gate.” She does glance over at her father who gives her a nod. He gave her a lot of free range in his home but still Cas wants to be careful.

_ “Gate? Can’t you just meet me outside?” _

She looks down at her feet because she’s in socks. It’s a lab environment but they’re not working with any materials or equipment right now, just the holograms, so it’s not irresponsible sciencing. 

“Nope.” Cas is in for the evening and doesn’t want to wear shoes anymore. Running down that driveway to hand deliver the Sibylline book to Jason Grace’s waiting hands would involve putting on shoes, “Hurry up, I’m getting the bonfire ready.” 

_ “Cas…” _ Ha. As if this boy scout could guilt her into anything using that tone. She’s not Piper or Leo.

“Hey, you think I’ll get prophetic powers if I make s'mores over Sibylline fire?”

_ “Cassand-” _

“See you soon.” Jarvis, the brilliant system that he is, hangs up for her. She grins and snickers but doesn’t move from where she’s standing. If she were to guess she would say she has about ten minutes because Jason is going to freeze at the base of the property before he inches his way up to the house. Cas knows from experience that it can be intimidating to first timers.

She’s just gotten a promising redesign for the flaps going when her father says, “I’m assuming Clark Kent is not his real name.” 

No, but that nickname is Percy’s fault and it just fits so well with the glasses he wears now. “Jason Grace, my first Roman friend.”

“Uh huh,” Her father is valiantly attempting to be normal about all of this. She respects it greatly, “Son of…” He trails off leadingly.

This could be fun. Her father has clearly done his homework since she came into his life, “It’s pretty obvious. I called him Sparky.”

Her father just sighs, “Are you telling me that Zeus’s son is pulling up to my house any minute?”

B+ How sad. Just missed that perfect score.

“Nope,” He gets this weird look, “Roman, remember? Jason is a son of Jupiter. There’s a difference.” Cas enjoys annoyance she identifies on her father's face. Is it bad that she’s happy to have put it there? Maybe, but she has twenty one years to catch up on and she’s taking advantage of this introductory period where they’re both enjoying this too much to argue.

Her father is sure to start poking back eventually. He’s not the type to pity her because she has a few battle scars, he has a huge one shining in his chest.

Right now he just looks at her and waits for her to elaborate, “The Jupiter aspect is more serious than Zeus's side, or so I’ve been told, I’m a Greek so it’s not like I’ve met the god’s Roman halves often.” Zeus is already serious enough for Cas. From what she heard from Percy, some are easier to handle as Romans, *cough* Mars *cough.* Also, after the situation with her mother being destabilized by the conflict between the Camps, she realized that there aren’t really any differences between Nike and her Roman aspect, Victoria. It was just who she was rooting for to win the war between Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter. 

Another reason for the continuation of the GrecoRoman Peace, time will erode the differences between the camps as they expand the exchange program. Eventually the different aspects will resolve themselves into a more even balance of both and the name shouldn’t matter. That’s going to take years but it will prevent their enemies from dividing and conquering like they nearly did last year.

“Fascinating.” His sarcasm is appreciated because it means he’s fine….she thinks, “Save what you’re working on and go greet your playdate.” Ew.

Gross.

How rude. She’s not a child.

But Cas knew he was going to poke back.

“Whatever, old man.” She takes her time heading up the stairs to her room to get the book from under her bed because the less time that it’s around the better. Cas will be dropping it into Jason’s waiting hands as soon as possible. As she heads up she tries to figure out why Jason was sent out for such a basic fetch quest and comes to the conclusion that there is something else he wants to talk about.

It could be a few things:

It might have something to do with relations between both camps that the Praetors want to talk about but it’s tricky so they’re sending Jason to soften her up. She doubts Jason believes that would work but if the Senate asks he’ll do it; he’s loyal like that.

Though, and she wholeheartedly hopes that this is wrong, it could be about the zombie problem. It’s unlikely that she’s wrong though.

That stops mattering when she hears the distant, “Thank you?” He must be so confused by Jarvis’s disembodied directions but his manners compel him to speak anyway.

Cas picks up the pace and heads to the living room that she was ambushed in yesterday. It has the comfy chairs in it. “Supes!” She vaults herself over a chair (because going around is too far) and drops the book in it as she passes over it. 

Jason realizes too late what she’s going to do because he shouts, “Cas, no!” He’s holding a notebook out in front of him but she doesn’t stop and long-jumps the last ten feet to wrap her arms around his neck. The book falls to the floor because it’s Jason and he’s not going to let one of his friends fall. He awkwardly pats her back and this is why she did this. Also, she feels kind of bad about his breakup so she wants to make sure he knows she’s still his friend.

But it’s mostly because for all that Jason is an amazing leader and law abiding citizen of New Rome he’s far more awkward than his sister. 

He dropped the notebook but he barely moved when she slammed into him. It may have forced him half a step back if she’s being generous with herself. 

Stupid Big Three strength.

“Why is it that I’ve been in LA for months but I’m only seeing you now?”

“Probably because I have to finish high school because we were all busy last year.” True statement.

She’s quick to jump back and lead him inside to sit. He’s not subtle as he looks around the space with wide eyes because all of the windows and open space are way different than the marble of New Rome. Cas still doesn’t know where all of that marble came from because the Romans don’t interact with Olympus nearly as much the Greeks do. It’s funny to watch him hesitate to touch the expensive furniture that she’s grown used to- the chair she squeezed just a little bit too hard last week was already replaced, the floor is fixed too-and eventually sink gently onto the edge of the seat.

This boy saved the world.

She smiles as she says, “How are you, Jason?”

He still looks really uncomfortable and runs a hand through his hair, “I’m alright. School’s good.” He let it stay longer than it was when she first met him and he was still full on Praetor with amnesia. It makes him look more relaxed even if he still has that look in his eye that says he’s seen too much. They all have it now but Jason’s never quite been able to hide it as well as the others. It’s something she likes about the boy scout, he doesn’t have a duplicitous bone in his honorable body.

Does it make him predictable and easy to tease? Yes.

But Jason is good and after dealing more complicated friendships….having a couple of easier ones like him is really nice even if he’s younger, not that age makes much of a difference after everything they’ve been through.

Which is why Cas knows to call him out on that sad attempt at a deflection, “Sure it is, you’re smart and AP Calculus isn’t difficult after giant slaying, hero. So, try again.”

He sighs, “You spoke to Piper?”

“I spoke to Piper.”

That hand passes through his hair again, “I’m confused. I don’t-I still love her, Cas. There’s no way I’m going to crowd her about it but I promised I wouldn’t let her go.” Cas remembers that. Piper had fallen backwards on Cas’s bunk in the Argo II that night and told her about it. That’s what she got for being the token adult on that trip. This though, this is on Cas because she brought it up. She had hoped a nice ‘hang in there’ would cut it but that does not appear to be the case. How did Cas end up involved in so many emotional pep talks in such a short amount of time? Right, she’s too soft and Clarisse would be laughing at her if she was here.

Gods, she misses Clarisse.

“Did either of you take the time after Sonoma Valley to think?” Cas hadn’t really been paying attention at the time because she’d been too busy rolling around Bunker 9 laughing in joy. Festus, one of the last links to Charlie, may have been destroyed but she knew Charlie would have loved that place. “Or did you both get wrapped up in the adventure?” Also, she didn’t really know them yet. Cas bonded to Leo first out of those three.

He shifts, “Come on, Cas.” Nope. She’s feeling the discomfort too. After speaking with Piper, she promised to look after this flyboy so she waits him out instead of dropping it like she wants to. “No….”

Uh-huh, “Well, there you go. You two were thrown together under stress,” With fake memories, she doesn’t say that though because she feels eavesdroppers, i.e., J and her father. “Take the space, think it through, and if it’s meant to work out I think it will.”

Jason slumps into the chair finally, “How did you learn to give relationship advice?”

Her smile turns brittle, “I’m the best.” Hours of sitting with Silena by the lake just listening as she helped campers and satyrs alike with their love lives, “That’s why.” Unlike Drew Tanaka and some of the others who-shall-not-be-named, Silena actually wanted people to be happy and not be an entertaining drama.

And another reason why Cas adores Jason, “Thanks, Cas. But to the important stuff.” He noticed her strain but he lets it go because he’s nice like that.

“Right,” She hops up and easily dumps the book in Jason’s lap, “I transfer this into your illustrious possession, oh Pontifex Maximus.” And then returns to her seat with a grin on her face.

Jason is not impressed but he accepts it without complaining. It’s so nice once they get used to her antics. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”

“Relax, Sparky.” As always, his brow twitches, “If those excitable people in the Senate are worried about Lester they shouldn’t be. Leo has him and I’ll be heading up to New Rome in a few weeks anyway.” The current Praetors are great but the Senate is still filled with retired legionnaires which means none of them participated directly in the Gigantomachy, which also means that they still have some old fashioned feeling about Greeks. They probably don’t trust Greek heroes to work with Apollo. It’ll change but these things take time.

Another reason to like Jason is that he’s intuitive enough to notice Cas say Lester and not Apollo, “And we all wish Lester safe travels especially with the losers that took an interest in him hanging around.” That catches her eye. Has New Rome identified another Emperor? If they have then why haven’t they said anything? Hanging around suggests that they’re close. “Why a few weeks?” 

He doesn’t seem concerned about the delay, just curious. Good. That means that what they know isn’t time sensitive or urgent yet.

Her answering grin is a bit sharper than the previous one, “Remember those ‘peace talks’ Reyna and Octavian had with Rachel and Grover?” He nods, “Turns out New Rome still owns that building. Didn’t tell us though.” If her father asks then she’ll tell him that there were tensions when Greeks and Romans rediscovered each other but it was resolved. It’s true enough since none of them killed each other….well Nico may have but that was self defense.

Jason freezes in his seat, “Cas-” It’s not Jason’s fault he was with the Argo II but his face tells her he had no clue which is nice. How did this kid get the title of Praetor again? Oh right, he beat up Krios and knocked over an empty throne in California while the Greeks took on the main army in Manhattan. Battle merit not political skill.

“Would you like to know who Octavius bought the building from?” With Senate approval because he used New Rome’s denari and dollars to do it.

He tries again, “Cassandra, there’s no way that Reyna could have known. She never would have allowed-”

“He bought it from Triumvirate Holdings,” Jason pales, “Yeah, he bought the siege weaponry from them too. New Rome gave a lot of money to them last year. I’m curious to see how often they’ve worked together in the past.”

“Shit,” He covers his face with his hands, “I can promise you that we never did while I was Praetor.” Can he? She bets Reyna will claim ignorance as well but whether or not that’s actually true remains to be seen. It’s possible that this happened behind their backs but that says a lot about their capabilities in holding their office. Now, the argument could be made about Luke Castellan having worked with them too but the truth of the matter is that he cut ties with Camp Half-Blood and accepted help and investments from Triumvirate Holdings. That’s a long way from a continuous financial partnership, which is what this looks like for New Rome from the Greek perspective.

However, just because New Rome worked with the zombie-Emperors on the business side of things-this includes the purchase of weaponry-that doesn’t mean that they’re a part of the evil conquest plan. It also doesn’t mean that she won’t use it to pressure some concessions out of the prideful Romans. They should have looked closer at who they were working with.

“Which is why I’m telling you now, instead of driving into New Rome and demanding answers,” Also that would be a waste of time because the Senate would stall as they dig around their records and try to save their skins. Things might not be ‘found’ if Cas rushes them and she doubts things will be ‘lost’ with an angry Son of Jupiter breathing down their necks. Reyna and Frank aren’t slouches either, so as long as they get time to oversee an investigation Cas can trust the truth will out. 

“What do you want, Cas?” She feels really bad for putting all of this on him but….

Bingo.

With Jason also being put into a political and diplomatic position between the camps similar to her, she’s going to have to catch him up on the negotiations thing. He caved a little too easily. He’s only eighteen but he missed out on that whole year of schooling with the Giants running around and Chiron always loves eager students. They can probably set up some debate lessons to bring him more up to speed. He’s a Son of Jupiter so he can’t lead with just his sword.

“Continued peace between the camps and fair cooperation as we deal with a mess of Roman origin,” Also, she totally wants that building. She has plans for it. But mostly she wants to make sure that the Romans don’t try to sit in their city and wait this out like they did for most of the Titanomachy. She also wants to prevent a repeat of the Roman response to Gaea which was ‘she doesn’t matter, let’s kill some Greeks.’

He sighs again, “I’ll talk to Frank and Reyna when I head back.”

“Awesome,” She then shifts her attention to the notebook he hasn’t let go of, “So, what did you bring?”

“I wanted to talk with you about the designs for Lady Victoria’s temple and the new statue I plan to commission for the senate building of her.” Her eyes widen, “There aren’t any demigods or known Legacies of Victoria in New Rome currently so you're the best bet.”

Huh. 

She didn’t see that detail coming but she finds herself strangely honored. Other than the Athena Parthenos and her cabin there aren’t any statues or temples to her mother at either camps. It’s something she finds totally unfair given that everyone requests favor from her mother but this is a real improvement. She knew that Jason would be tackling the ‘minor gods need more representation’ problem but she didn’t think he would ask for her opinion. This is also an abrupt conversation change and she realizes she may have come down on Jason a little bit harshly.

A testament to how much this whole thing is bothering her really. She’ll have to remember to hold back in New Rome.

“How can I help?” She’s not an architect like Annabeth is but if it’s about her mother she’s probably one of the best to ask. This is a much lighter conversation than the one before as they discuss how to best represent both aspects of her mother at the same time without overdoing it. Since an actual temple to her mother is a new experience for Cas, they start with what already has a precedent.

“The Ara Victoriae was a repurposed Greek statue from the Pyrrhic Wars; it only makes sense to put her in a chiton. Not a stola.” She’s not going to make a stink over a stolen statue that was later destroyed but the Christian emperors but she would prefer it be accurate.

“True, but if we put of Greek representation outside of the Senate house it could be taken as too radical.” His concerns are valid. Jason is one hundred percent on her side with slowly reducing the differences between New Rome and Camp Half-Blood but his concern over a statue’s clothing seems a bit much.

“Then commision one from Camp Half-Blood. An Athena or Apollo camper will do it for ‘free,’” Cas can pay for this, “And call it a gift.” Problem solved. Her mother gets a little more respect, the Romans get a new Altar of Victory to swear their senate oaths and burn offerings in front of, all with the added bonus of being a reminder of friendly Greeks. As opposed to conquered Greeks because colonialism is so last century. 

“That could work…” He doesn’t sound so sure.

“Tell you what, speak to them about it first and while you're at it tell them that Camp Half-Blood is interested in restructuring some of the central organization of the camp.” She ignores Jason’s huffed ‘what organization’ because he’s right but that doesn’t mean he has to rub it in. “And would appreciate some assistance from the Republic.” Cas did get permission to say that from Camp Half-Blood.

They way things used to be won’t work in the future especially if they plan to present a unified front to the mortals one day. Before big issues were resolved by the cabin heads only. So one needed an Olympian parent and seniority to get a vote, that got improved by the titanomachy because now every god with kids gets a cabin and every cabin gets a vote. The new issue is that there’s still a split in influence between the children of major and minor gods even if every cabin gets a say.

Also, well, not every god has multiple children in the same year like Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, and Hermes do-she doesn’t like to think about that being in more than one place at once thing-so some cabins only have one or two campers in them. Does a vote from a small cabin like Nike count as much as a large cabin like Apollo? Cas says yes and the large cabins can talk within themselves on how they want their cabin to vote so everyone gets a voice. Or they can just flip the table like Piper did when she mutanied on Drew.

The United States solved this centuries ago but Camp Half-Blood doesn’t have a population so huge that it requires two legislative houses. Chiron’s expecting record numbers this summer somewhere in the realm of three thousand which is just mind boggling for Cas. (There are so many minor gods though so…) Many are going to be legitimate children, like middle schoolers or younger, that will spend the summer with them after being brought by their mortal parent and then go home in August. How novel. 

As a result, Chiron plans to try to contact older Greek demigods that have kept their heads down over the years because he and the satyrs will need help. They’ll be sort of like Daedalus but less reverse Bicentennial Man (the book not the movie) and more very good at keeping out of the limelight. The hope is that he can convince them to come back and teach or even just help manage the large amount of baby demigods.

A small problem is that the baby demigods don’t fall within Percy’s stipulation about claimings occurring by thirteen years old. Not a big deal though because plenty will get claimed young like Annabeth did and if they don’t the Hermes Cabin has been well expanded. They don’t want to put a nine year old in a cabin by themselves anyway.

There’s a reason why Cas wants a conveniently placed building in Manhattan. She’s not just in the market to spite the Romans. Any actually grown up demigods cannot be expected to live in a cabin with a bunch of kids. Only a child of Hebe would agree to that.

This is all for later though because right now she’s comparing and contrasting the use of eagle wings vs owl wings for depictions of Victoria in temples. The correct answer is that both should be used due to Nike’s connection to Athena but…

“Cas, Minerva isn’t really….important to Romans.” 

Yeah. That.

That caused her a lot of problems last year and she’s bitter on Minerva’s behalf even if she sent Annabeth after the Mark of Athena alone.

“Sure, but my mother rides with her and Jupiter for Rome so both parts of that are important.” This conversation gets tabled though because her father walks in, ignores them, and heads for the front door.

“Was that Tony Stark?”

“Yeah.” Jason knows who her father is so….she reads the confusion on his face and comes to a realization. Cas may have jumped the gun in assuming that Piper would have told Jason about coming clean to her father. There’s no way he could have thought that this whole place was hers, right?  Oops. It is some heavy gossip that any other child of Aphrodite wouldn’t have been able to hold in but she should have realized Piper wouldn’t be like that. Her father is a Hollywood star so she knows how to be discreet.  “My dad,” Best go nonchalant with this, “This is his house.” She turns her attention back to where her father went because that was the front door….and he comes back with three pizza(?) boxes.

Okay.

She can eat. 

The boy scout stands up as her father comes in but Cas shifts herself up to sit cross legged in her chair. It has better balance for Pizza consumption than her lap. Her father kindly dumps the top box in her arms because why get a plate when she plans to eat the whole thing anyway? But he drops the other two on the designer table and takes the other chair without acknowledging Jason’s outstretched hand.

“Um, hi, Mr. Stark.” Jason is so flustered by this. It’s been a long time since people in the know weren’t rolling out the red carpet for the son of Jupiter. Rather than help she sits back to enjoy her extra cheesy goodness and the show.

“Mr. Grace,” Her father selects a slice for himself and leans back, “Sit, have a slice. Hosting minigods is still something of a novelty for me but I have it on good authority that you always eat.” 

“Right,” He sits without taking any pizza, what a travesty but he is California raised so pizza access is minimal. The place her father orders from is actually really good all things considered, “Since you’re here I did want to thank you for the work you’ve done with Cas.” Oh gods, he’s trying to be all grown up with the wrong person at the wrong time.

“Great, you’re breaking my heart,” And Cas is enjoying this, “So what was that about Triumvirate Holdings? Jarvis looked them up. They sound shady and Pepper made a note to blacklist them on any and all ventures.” She anticipated this but Jason’s face looks like a kid caught with one hand in a cookie jar.

This is priceless but before he can bury them in an unfortunate hole she steps in, “Relax, Old Man.” Jason coughs, “The Romans have this thing called Legacies where the descendants of demigods can ride their lineage for all its worth.”

“That’s not exactly what-” Jason is ignored.

“They, meaning Romans as a whole, prefer to work with familiar lineages and families. Unfortunately, this bit them in the ass because Triumvirate Holdings is shady but we’re handling it.” It’s a universal ‘we’ for demigods. They’ve totally got this.

She holds her father’s gaze for a minute and nothing gets said before he nods and lets it go, “Fun times, so can you control the weather? Because I know a lot of places that could use you to redirect storms away from their equipment. Even better, can you bring rain storms to places that need it? Or can you only do lightning? That has uses too.”

Jason looks largely floored as her father engages him in conversation about his abilities purely from an objective standpoint. There is zero wonder or hero worship involved and it takes a bit for him to get into the swing of it but pretty soon he’s talking to her father about what he can do and how he manipulates wind currents for short sustained periods of flight. Her father is awesome and Cas just sits back and watches with her pizza as Jason becomes more and more comfortable with them.

Her father must have been paying attention to Cas’s pizza box because when she’s done he changes the subject matter up a tiny bit.

“Cas, how frequently can I expect to have demigods coming by?” Ah, fair question. There’s a lot going on right now and things are sure to pick up since there’s going to need to be solidarity and altruism between the camps even more so than before.

Cas exchanges a glance with Jason this time, “I wouldn’t say all of the time but it will be regularly or I’ll meet them somewhere.”

“That may be a problem,” Oh, this must be where Cas over stepped, “See, I signed on to consult for Shield,” What? “And I don’t think you want to expose demigods too soon.”

Why?

For what possible reason would her father want to work more closely with those people? He’s helping the ones who were content to watch him lash out as his perceived inevitable death closed in while holding a solution out of sight.

“There’s a perfectly logical reason why you’re working with them though, right?”

Because her father is pretty much always the smartest person in the room so he has to have a good reason for this.

“Initially, I thought they wanted me on their team but I display ‘compulsive behavior,’ have ‘self-destructive tendencies,’ and show ‘textbook narcissism.” 

Uh, what? When was this evaluation done? Probably last week when Agent Romanoff was around and they pegged her from the beginning so her father was going out of his way to be a nuisance just for shits and giggles. Also, self-destructive? Her father thought he was dying last week so how can any of that be accurate?

That last one makes her wrinkle her nose.

A narcissistic man does not help several thousand kids the way that he did and he certainly doesn’t take a chance on a strange smart girl that broke into his email. Also, she met Narcissus and sure he was pretty but that was it. There was nothing else about him that was worth any sort of pride. Her father actually has a reason to take pride in himself and well, Happy explained the press/stage personality thing to her, so this Shield Agent must suck because her father has an ego but not like Narcissus.

“You are not like Narcissus.”

Fuck that guy. Jason has a strong look of dislike on his face too. He remembers Leo, Hazel, and her talking about this after they got back with their bronze for repairs. 

He shakes his head and mutters about not touching that but then continues, “Turns out they want my tech and my knowhow, but nothing else.” There’s a heavy amount of doubt hanging in the room right now, “Yeah, that’s what I thought but the Pirate did get me the presenter I wanted for the award ceremony in DC.”

“You told me that Stern stabbed you with the medal.” She’d laughed at him as he lamented everyone liking Rhodey more than him. It’s pretty easy when he’s a decorated officer and her father is….her father.

He grins, “Worth it.”

“Oh gods, I see it.” Huh? Jason looks like he’s made some huge breakthrough.

“What was that Jason?” Did he figure something out? If so he needs to not let her father know, she doesn’t want him involved with zombie-emperors.

“No, nothing important but Mr. Stark is consulting for Shield a good idea?”

Her father’s countenance shifts and he pins Jason in place. It’s very impressive because normally a mortal could not intimidate a demigod, especially the king of the god’s child but her father is just all sorts of uncommon, “Don’t know if Cas told you but I’m out of the weapon business. Shield tried to infiltrate my systems before and by doing things this way I control what they have access to.” He relaxes a millimeter, “Also, I get to see if they have anything on demigods.”

And Shield labeled this man as narcissistic. She did not ask nor suggest that it would be a good idea for her father to spy on the ultimate spy organization but here he is volunteering himself. It’s also useful for her because as long as she’s Tony Stark’s smart daughter they’re unlikely to look any closer but she can look as closely as she wants.

“You don’t need to do that, old man.” That’s a risk. Spying on a spy organization.

“Nope,” He grabs another slice before shoving the box towards Jason who finally concedes to the food offering, “Have a statue erected in my honor.” The sad part is that there are quite a few demigods halfway to doing just that for how much he’s already helped them. Social media access has made the previously dramatic and over the top campers even worse. She doesn’t tell her father this of course because it's precisely the sort of thing that would delight him. It’s a bunch of the best and brightest of the world thanking him in an over the top way for something that he actually did.

Instead, “Fat chance, settle for fan mail and general hero worship.” Because that is unavoidable at this point when there are people salivating for the chance at getting into SI R&D. She’s told them that they’ll need at least a BS first because there’s no way she can justify a high school diploma in the labs she is slowly gaining influence over. Once they have a Bachelor’s though she’ll see about getting them in if they’re qualified and after that it’s easy enough to get them scholarships at other universities for Master’s programs and such. 

Does Cas plan to throw her new name around to open some doors so her people can get a shot? Yes. Does she know that it’s privileged bullshit? Also yes, it’s not going to stop her from giving as many opportunities to demigods as possible. 

“More importantly, if I’m working on projects for Shield there’s likely to be agents hanging around places.” Gross, “Not in the company though because Happy is revamping security.” He likes background checks and badges. She saw his plans for the future of the security department when she was in the car with Pepper. It’ll be annoying but she’ll adjust.

Jason grimaces and she decides to encourage him to speak and waves him on, “They’re like MIB, right? Doesn’t that mean they’ll be watching you and your associates?” Three cheers. The boy scout is very smart and she looks forward to seeing where he goes in the future because he might not base the rest of his life around minor god representation. He could be a real leader in the mainstream world too. The steady temperament and the incorruptibility wrapped around him is certainly something that the world at large could use.

Her father is patient enough tonight to indulge him, “Yes, which is why California’s demigods need to use extra caution in LA and connected areas.” Cas holds back her laugh because most demigods avoid LA since the entrance to the underworld is there. That’s changing since there’s new respect for Hades after he saved the day at the base of the Empire State Building. She’s never been more grateful to see a skeleton.

“We’ll keep that in mind.” Yay. More spies. They’re Cas’s favorite type of people….

It’s not long after that Jason heads out with the Sibylline book in tow and Cas is not sad to see that thing leave her possession. She walks him to his car-New Rome gave him a Pinto? Is braving a fire hazard a mark of a proud legionnaire?-and leaves him with a hug and a request to keep her in the loop. He promises to talk to Reyna and Frank about her concerns and will tell them to expect her in three weeks.

She marks it in her calendar because that’s going to be some fun times for everyone. At least she’ll get to see the very badass Hazel while she’s there but fighting a stuffy prejudiced Roman Senate is something she’s both excited about and dreading. Using words to debate and convince is something that she genuinely enjoys and yet there are going to be a lot of people there who hate her because her mother is Nike not Victoria. It’s going to be interesting.

Who does she think she’s kidding?

Her life is always interesting.


	11. This Christmas Feels Like the Very First Christmas to Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, I put this story in December so this was obligatory fluff. I needed it.
> 
> Also, and I have her think it during the story but guys Cas is a BIASED party. I put third person limited in the tags for a reason so not everything she thinks or says are necessarily correct just because she thinks them. And they don't always represent my personal views either.
> 
> Second, there are some lighthearted mentions of alcohol because it's Christmas. If this makes anyone uncomfortable I understand. I personally have complicated views on the stuff and am not that big of a fan but view it as a normal for holidays and special occasions.
> 
> Lastly, in Iron Man 2, Tony Stark blows off the senate and says that he 'Privatized World Peace.' With all of news stories and the Times Magazine cover we see it suggests that he was successful and open about it. So I play into that more than was used in the movies. Sue me. And other small MCU detail, look up the Shield Index and tell me if you think that Cas is paranoid or not. I'm genuinely curious.
> 
> THAT'S ALL ON TO THE STORY

Cas and her father have been carefully orbiting each other the last two days. There’s a careful distance between them but at the same time they somehow get along really well(?). It’s strange but….neither of them qualify as normal. As part of her ‘do not crowd the man’ plan, Cas has been exploring the mansion since she has the run of the place minus her father’s room because no. 

She’s invaded his privacy enough.

There’s plenty for her to entertain herself with during her time here including the gym. She’s spent some of her time there. Jarvis is really helpful because with the cameras in the room and his analyses he can call out her errors. Not perfectly of course but he’s a learning system and soon he’ll be able to make reasonable corrections to her forms as she runs through routines whether they’re gymnastics, her spear stances, or unarmed combat forms. Jarvis is really cool.

There’s a pool and the property’s on the ocean but it’s December so neither have her interest currently and she plans to be out of here as soon as she has a drivers license reading ‘Cassandra Stark.’ That’ll be sometime in March according to Pepper so she’s unlikely to be swimming. The kitchen is nice and so is her room but she doesn’t want to spend all of her time there.

One thing that did catch her eye, her father has a screening room. Not a family room or something with a big tv, oh no, it’s an actual private movie theater complete with popcorn machine. Cas can and will use this room to watch Episodes I-VI. Episode I and II are not her favorites but a true Star Wars marathon will be happening and include all six.

The garage and the lab are both places she’s seen since there’s overlap and after the first few weeks working for SI Cas earned a spot for her bike whenever she came by. Now, she has a set parking spot since she lives here.

Her current piece of entertainment is none of these though. It’s December 24th and she’s been told to lay off any and all work today by everyone which is totally unfair because her father is in the lab working on his secret project again so she can’t even mess around down there. She could go take her bike out but she’s already mapped all of the roads in the area meaning it’s not tempting for her right now. Instead she’s climbed onto the roof because tv is not doing it for her and there’s nowhere else she can just layabout. It’s got a solid ocean view and the wifi is great everywhere here so there’s music.

It’s not unlike lazy days by the canoe lake even if Cas didn’t want to be lazy today. That being said, she’s relieved when Jarvis interrupts her lazing, “Dr. Campeao,” Gods, they need to change that, “Mr. Stark is requesting your presence in the foyer.” Cas has been referring to the foyer as ‘first sitting room’ for the majority of her time here and it’s going to be a while before she succeeds in correcting that mislabeling.

“Right,” ….requesting, she knows what that looks like on her father, “Did he say why?” 

“He said it was a surprise.” 

Huh.

Interesting.

Getting down isn’t hard and twentyish foot the drop barely registers but coming down into the foyer does make her pause because, “Why is there a tree here?” There’s a fifteen foot pine tree in her father’s foyer. Cas isn’t so out of touch with mortal reality that she’s unaware of Christmas Trees but she doesn’t think they go up on Christmas Eve nor would she peg her father as the type to buy a massive one like this.

And yet there it is.

From somewhere beyond the branches she hears her father, “Because it’s Christmas.” Highly informative, “Help me move it to the stand,” Code: Carry this thing for me. She looks across the room and sees a plastic base that she assumes is the stand. It’s going to be a pain because when she reaches the tree she’s dodging branches to the eye just to grab the trunk. The tree itself is not heavy but it is awkward to carry it across the room. “Hold it straight.” There is literally no way to tell with her eyes in danger of pine needles but she holds it hopefully straight up.

She can hear her father sliding around and screwing this thing into the base. It must be a beautiful image but alas she cannot see it lest she get tree in her eyes. Gods, if there were any dryads or Demeter children here right now Cas would be getting pelted by fruit and seeds. “Done.”

She steps back and wipes her face before opening her eyes. It’s still a tree but now it’s standing in the middle of the room. “People usually put lights on them and things.” She’s seen Charlie Brown.

“Yep, we have lights, garland, and ornaments in the boxes outside. Go get them,” He checks his watch. “We have two hours to make this thing look like a Macy’s catalog.” The tree is given a long and dubious once over by Cas because she’s trying to figure out how she’s supposed to get a star on top of this thing. Maybe a ladder will appear by the time she gets back otherwise she’s going to have to jump and hope it doesn’t fall over.

What happens when you put two genius-level emotionally awkward human beings on a purely artsy creative project?

A mess.

The answer is a mess.

The lights and the garland are all perfectly distanced so the tree is twinkling just like it should be but the ornaments are another story. For one, it’s possible that her father had Jarvis order any he could get at the last minute because the My Little Pony set is clashing with the Christmas Dinosaurs set. Which is fine because, two, it’s chaotic and if she were an artist she’d name it Christmas Entropy. While they are both perfectly capable of making things organized, it is so much more fun to decorate it in the ugliest way possible.

“Toss me Gumby, he’s going next to the astronaut.”

“Sure, but give me that Sauron first he’s going with Santaur.” Cas cracked up when she saw that thing and immediately sent a picture to everyone in Camp Half-Blood. Unlucky Chiron will be known as Santaur until New Years, at least.

Her father does in fact have a step ladder but only one so she’s just climbing on and moving furniture instead. They’re inside so she’s not wearing shoes and she’ll put it back once they're done decorating this aberration to Christmas trees.

She loves it. It’s beautiful.

They finish just in time and she’s got sap and needles all over herself but she is very satisfied with the results. So much so that she immortalizes this shrine to decades of pop culture and traditional Christmas with a photo that goes straight to multiple demigods.

_ I think I nailed this Christmas thing. _

She gets mixed reviews but everyone’s a critic. Cas knows this is a masterpiece and so does her father, “Perfect.” She agrees with his assessment. 

~~~

It was a pain in the ass to get all of the pine needles out of her hair but totally worth it because when she got back to the foyer the two hours her father mentioned made sense. Happy, Rhodey and Pepper were back and she was beginning to wonder if their continuous presence was due to her existence or her father's recent actions. Pepper makes sense. They’re dating and Christmas stuff is happening. Well, Happy is always around too even if he wasn’t usually here….but Rhodey huh. Actually, it makes sense he’s in the area right now since the AirForce is working on the War Machine contract with SI right now.

She’s not complaining because she gets to watch her father present their tree to present company and judging by their faces they have no idea what to say. This should be fun. Cas bounces down the stairs with a big grin on her face, “Do you guys like it? I’ve never decorated a Christmas tree before.” The thumbs up she gets from her father has nothing to do with the hopeful expression she paints on her face.

The group is quick to tell her that it’s great even though it obviously physically pains them to say it. Cas can say this truthfully because she decorated it, the tree is hideous. However, no one wants to tell her that her father’s attempt to do something Christmasy with her was a monumental failure. This is so much better than a Macy’s catalog tree.

There’s a lot to be said about Cas’s first Christmas experience. They don’t have any gifts currently because those are planned for tomorrow even though she wasn’t expecting anything from anyone. What they have is a stack of Christmas movies that she ‘needs’ to see at least once.

“I’ve never seen Die Hard. Are you sure that’s a Christmas movie?” Doesn’t sound like it is.

“Blasphemy,” Okay…. “It takes place during Christmas ergo it’s a Christmas movie.” Whatever he says, it’s his house.

When the credits roll she apologizes because John McClane well and truly saved Christmas with glass in his feet, which is pretty freaking awesome.

Scrooged, Lethal Weapon, and Batman Returns make the cut as well and she’s less certain about Batman because the penguins were really weird. At first she thought this was some kind of prank list but Rhodey assured her that mainstream Christmas movies have always been too boring for her father. She feels like there’s more to it than that but she lets it go for now. If she needs to know she’ll either figure it out or someone will tell her.

In accordance with tradition that dates back to her father’s college days with Rhodey, they are eating Chinese. It’s not a roast or a turkey but she doesn’t cook and if she were to hazard a guess the people around her can keep themselves alive but not much else. Call her petty but Cas refuses to touch the fortune cookies-she’s done with prophecies at the moment, even fake ones-and instead throws them at everyone but Pepper when they aren’t looking. Can’t prove it if there’s no evidence and Jarvis isn’t a tattletale. 

There’s also eggnog involved which she finds to be nasty tasting. She is twenty one so she’s welcome to try and drink anything she wants but she also has a metabolism that’s roughly 3X of the average demigod and 6X that of the average mortal. Long story short, she tries pretty much everything her father has in stock in addition to the eggnog and other than wrinkling her nose at the smells nothing really happens.

She actually coughs when she tries a tumbler of scotch but she powers through because it was given to her.

“This stuff is gross.”

“That stuff is $1,000 for a bottle.”

She blinks, “Why?”

Her question is left unanswered in the face of her father’s skepticism, “Are you trying to tell me that you grew up in a village of superpowered teens and none of you snuck so much as a Keystone Light in the woods?”

This is a tricky one because Cas doesn’t know how to explain that Camp Half-Blood is guaranteed dry due to Dionysus being there on probation for chasing the wrong nymph. She doesn’t bother trying, “The camp director is really good at detecting that sort of thing.” Ironically enough Cas discovered that she likes a good glass of wine, so she mooches off of Pepper. She's a Greek demigod so it sort of makes sense but it's unlikely that she'll ever be much of a drinker.

“You can get away with sneaking out but not drinking.” Ha. 

They knew. Cas knows that Chiron knew he just wasn’t going to waste his time on that with everything else that was going on with the titans, “Trust me when I say he would have known.” The subject was neatly changed by Happy, of all people, to the antics she would get up to with the other demigods when she did sneak out. She’s convinced he just wants things to look out for if she bolts on him again.

So there’s the reckless driving, movies that needed to be seen in theaters, and mainly places that didn’t have loud children in them. If she had really been about to do something stupid someone probably would have stopped her at the border unless she was really booking it like the initial days of ‘Percy is missing!’ Yeah, Annabeth didn’t really keep her head on straight for that so Cas followed along to keep her alive. They really hauled ass all over New York to find him until the prophecy sent Annabeth to find Jason and the others.

Good times. 

Happy was clearly hoping for some more detail on any reckless habits but he must have had one drink too many because he should know better. A whole lot of life story has been spilled recently, it’s going to be another large chunk of months at least before the next installment of the “Tragedy of Cassandra Mark II.” 

She doesn’t even notice that they tip passed midnight until her father says, “Hey look, it’s Christmas.”

Other than general mutterings of Merry Christmas, that’s all. 

The credits are rolling on their last debatably Christmas movie when Rhodey gets up saying he has to catch a flight. He gets a half hearted goodbye from Cas because she’s nodding off in a chair. 

~~~

Christmas is just as understatedly awesome as the day before.

She vanished off on a bike ride because Pepper stayed over the night before which is fine but there’s no way Cas plans to hang around until everyone is a bit more settled….yeah. The idea of an awkward breakfast with the three of them was enough to chase her from the house until well past noon. One day Cas might be courageous enough to sit through that but that will be in extraordinary circumstances like Pepper’s moved in and Cas is visiting. On second thought that may not be all that extraordinary.

Sigh.

When she returns several hours later after enjoying the coast and the one open coffee place she could find Cas is immediately summoned to the lab from the garage. Her father is hovering over some specs that he immediately vanishes when she comes in….must be the secret project. It’s at this point that she really wants to know what it is but she also knows that it’s none of her business. 

“Thought,” This sounds dangerous, “Your helmet could be better.” Maybe not.

She blinks, “It’s a motorcycle helmet. It’s supposed to protect my skull from the pavement.”

“That’s all it does.” 

Cas opens her mouth and then closes it because yes, that’s all that her helmet does. What the hell, it’s Christmas right, “What did you have in mind?” He’s clearly got something going on in there. 

“Pegasus, a heads up display, access to Jarvis, and multiple days of battery life without loss of integrity or significant weight increase.”

That sounds epic and she wants it.

“I’ll get started on the HUD if you can make me a new battery.”

Cas spends Christmas designing the coolest prototype motorcycle helmet to ever be created. This time that she gets in the lab with her father that is neither work related nor under a time crunch because he’s dying has to be her favorite. Decorating a Christmas tree was fun but debating which high density foam is best of the shock absorbant layer of the helmet is way more engaging.

Once they get a bit more settled into what they’re doing though Cas decides to bring up a problem she’d been thinking about during her drive this morning….and early afternoon.

“Shield went through a lot of trouble to bring you in as a consultant.” They gave their secret Kobayashi Maru but their test subject grew self aware and called them on their BS. The assessment her father mentioned suggests that he failed but from her perspective she doesn’t see how he did. The agent was identified as an unknown threat (by her but Shield doesn’t know that), rendered harmless, and nonviolently confronted when her father called Shield out.

So why the scathing review? They were obviously after Iron Man so why settle for the occasional handout but say her father is the problem?

“Agent Romanoff got the worst of it,” He must mean the eccentricity, “From her report I don’t think she’s my biggest fan.” Well, too bad for her, Cas isn’t Romanoff’s biggest fan.

“It seems like-on their part not yours because I prefer you breathing-a waste of time to ‘save’ you if they’re just going to keep you on the outside anyway.” A consultant's role is to provide advice but they don’t do much except help solve a specific problem, get paid for it, and leave again. They aren’t really members of whatever project team they’re aiding. Pepper explained this to Cas because she was confused about whether or not she qualified for that role. She does not because she’s actually a member of SI.

“Yeah,” He sounds like he’s already thought about this, “Didn’t qualify for the hero club even after all of that wining and dining by Fury.”

Huh. That doesn’t make sense because he does qualify. Her father is definitely the type of person she would work with on demigod issues if he was a demigod but she could possibly be a little biased after all of this time. 

So, why wouldn’t Shield want Tony Stark as a member?

She decides to think of some actual attributes of her father, not the inaccurate ones Romanoff threw around: Indomitable is the first one she ever heard and that’s still true even if he tripped a bit during the palladium issue. Brave because he went back after the weapons that were being used by people who hurt him. Those are good so the issue with Shield can’t be there.

Her mind circles around to weapons.

This is  _ important _ though. What about the weapons is so important? He stopped making them because of….accountability. That’s the word he used in that press conference “ _...system that is comfortable with zero accountability.”  _ And that was right after Afghanistan before he even got started.

“You’re thinking really hard over there and I know it’s not about eye tracking software,” He father sounds curious and she must have muttered that last part out loud. There’s another word her father said once. One that Shield would never agree too and is one of the reasons Cas believes her father was safe to approach in the first place.

_ “Time for a little transparency.”  _ And then her father sprayed foreign intel all over a live screened senate meeting. With Tony Stark, what you see is what you get. Sure, it’s possible to debate the motivations behind his actions but he never hides what he’s done.

Accountability and Transparency, a government official said something her father didn’t like and rather than yell he dug up evidence and threw it in their face and the whole world's face with an irreverence that made it look insolent and easy. That would have put a shiver in the Pirate’s timbers.

“Shield must be really freaked out by you.” If they brought him in and he saw something that he didn’t like then he’s likely to do what he’s done in the past. Either expose it or blow it up. Possibly both. For a shadow spy club that must be a terrifying prospect.

“Complete that thought, please.” Well, he said please.

“People can argue that you do it for the laurels but whenever you go out in the suit you do exactly as promised when it comes to hunting down weapons caches. And when you come back, if something else happened everyone finds out whether it’s directly from you or a press release. No redactions. Accountability and Transparency.” Just like he promised.

“You’re thinking that Shield doesn’t want me too close so that I can’t whistle blow on their systems and operations if I don’t agree with them.” He huffs out sharp breath, “I’ve never been accused of tattle tailing before.” 

“From what I understand, consultants don’t get much of an opinion other than the specific issue they’re consulting on.” So even if he adds to a project he won’t know what it’s used for just what he’s given them and that sounds dangerously like arming them. Her father’s also proven that he’ll step up even if the problem isn’t really his responsibility. No one told Tony Stark to fly into a War Zone and destroy all of those weapons, he just did it and made sure that people knew it.

Oh.

That’s cheap. They want Iron Man but they don’t want her father too close so their solution is to keep her father in their orbit but plan to rely on his secret sofie status to make him help on the big things. Or his curiosity to butt in on interesting happenings. All without giving him constant access to Shield systems. They get his handouts to be used however they want and if something goes wrong they can still enjoy the benefits of having Tony Stark obliterate it.

Her father stops what he’s working on to face her, “Kid, you are astoundingly suspicious for your age.” How can she not be?

Cas has had Shield and their No Enhanced Unstalked policy hanging over her for years in addition to the mythology villain of the week. She has no idea if this is true or not but when she was thirteen an older Aphrodite camper told her that they keep a list of known enhanced and their abilities so they can conscript or kill them. Is it campfire nonsense? She has no idea but better to be safe than sorry. Throwing herself under her father’s very large umbrella is going to have some nice fringe benefits like Cassandra Stark will be harder to vanish than Cassandra Campeao.

Tony Stark has already proven very hard to vanish.

“We’ve already established that I’ve seen some shit.” She can respect her father going out of his way if he feels like he should do something because he did that for her but there is no way she’s letting Shield get too close.

The conversation fades back to the occasional comment or suggestions from the both of them all with the bots circling (DUM-E has a christmas hat) while her father controls the music. Dean Martin is not her favorite and she gets the feeling he’s not her father’s either but the man resolutely plays Dean Martin’s Christmas Music. He really goes all out whenever he does anything.


	12. Modern Problems Require Modern Solutions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm....is this a plot I smell.

It’s a funny thing. Cassandra spent a solid chunk of her life silently begging for things to just slow down. Weird considering she’s naturally ambitious and competitive but she would take being bored over the constant fighting that has always engulfed her life. Her current life has only picked up momentum since Monaco which is now four weeks in the past and it just keeps on building.

Between days spent helping Pepper work, collaborating with her father, collaborating with other scientists, and working her own ideas Cas is very busy. And that doesn’t even consider everything else that she has going on in the realm of Gods and Monsters. Now that there are demigods looking to go to college there are applications and Cassandra never considered that she would be a good person to ask for recommendation letters. Some people think she is though and she’s signed on to write too many of them….that’s untrue. She’ll write as many as she possibly can for any demigod she knows.

She’s busy but she’s managing and Cas is also bonding(?) with her father because they’ve adapted to cohabitation. They’ve seated themselves in the kitchen this evening because they’re trying to do dinner together a couple of times a week because Pepper said it would be a good idea but they can’t cook. However, they’re geniuses so how hard can it be?

Attempt one is in the garbage because the skillet was too hot, it burned.

So, just as Cassandra has hit a happy medium in her life once again things happen. She isn’t scheduled to head to New Rome until next week and has been working on what she plans to say in her free time. That is the most demigod related thing on her mind right now. Everything has been quiet. No Apollo, no Leo, no Camp Half-Blood emergencies...until then.

“Dr. Campeao, I have a call for you from Piper McLean.” Piper? Piper never calls. She prefers to text and send her pictures of stupid demigod things she catches around camp but she never calls. Her father is giving her a curious look again because her face must look a bit perturbed. Also, he wasn’t wowed after meeting Jason and agreed with her boy scout/Clark Kent label but he’s still curious about other demigods.

“Put her though, J.” If it’s personal she’ll transfer to her room but she doesn’t want to waste time answering. Plus, her hands have chicken on them.

“ _ Cas… _ .” Red flags in play.

She doesn’t even bother with hellos, “What’s wrong?”

_ “Cas, it’s my dad.” _ She freezes,  _ “They went after my dad, again.” _ No. No, no, no. She looks at her father with a carefully blank expression because didn’t she just expound on just this problem two weeks ago? And now Piper’s father’s been targeted again to hurt her. Why her though? 

Duh, she’s only the most gifted and powerful charmspeaker in recent history. A deadly opponent in any arena which tells Cas that Nero and friends are gearing up for something.

“Where is he? Safe? Missing?” If he was taken again then Cas is going to have to drop everything and recruit the Romans because according to Piper her father doesn’t have the fortitude to handle the things that go bump in the night.

There’s a part of her mind, a dark corner, that is so grateful that it’s Piper’s dad and not hers in this situation. She tells it to shut up.

_ “He’s still with Mellie,” _ Good, if Hedge’s wife is there then it can’t be too dicey,  _ “But Triumvirate Holdings is trying to take everything. They’ve been filing lawsuits against him and no one will hire him and they’re trying to foreclose on the house.” _ What?  _ “No one told me until he lost the house!” _

This is weird. This is strange. It doesn’t make sense to attack financially because that will bring Piper over to help her father or at least try to. Even though Piper isn’t the type of person to whisper in someone’s ear to make all of this go away even though she could, she might try to buy her dad some time….unless that’s the goal. 

“Piper, I need you to make a choice.” She has limited options here.

_ “What?” _ Piper is so worried and confused. This is not the norm for them. Modern economics and property law is not something that Cas is educated in but it’s just another problem from the bad guys. They’ll manage.

“I can fly you out here,” NY to LA isn’t expensive, “Or you can get your dad to fly to you.” If he leaves he’ll be out of the way but close to Greek territory which is something Piper wants to avoid. It isn’t like he can help any lawyers out anyway but Mellie is his agent so she can manage a lawyer for Tristan McLean from a phone, maybe. She doesn’t exactly know how that works but there’s no reason to put her and the baby in danger by proximity. It’s hard enough to keep Hedge alive. “Keep in mind, I think that they want you here for some reason.”

_ “He can’t, what’s left of our accounts are frozen. Dad can’t even pay a lawyer and no one will sit down with him.” _ What? That doesn’t sound right….how influential are these guys?

She slumps rubbing her temples because she has a headache coming and she doesn’t know how to do this. Her current understanding of law as per Pepper and SI is if someone causes problems that cannot be resolved go to HR and if it escalates Legal may be brought in. She’s been learning business but this is entirely new territory.

And now her friend needs her and she’s in the entirely new situation of not having a godsdamned clue how to go about fixing it.

A hand on her shoulder stops her thinking. Cas forgot that her father was here, “You mind?” He waves at the air a bit.

That’s….not a bad idea.

“Piper…” Hmmm, “My dad is here. Sorry. He’s got an idea.” She hopes.

_ “Uh...yeah, sure. Hi, Mr. Stark.”  _ She doesn’t sound very happy but Cas will apologize more later for inadvertently airing Piper’s dirty laundry.

“Just Tony, Ms. McLean.” What? Her father looks entirely nonplussed about this whole thing, “How about I fly you out here and have my lawyers take a look and your father’s case.” What? “Meanwhile, you and Cassie can take a look at the demigod side of things.” Is he enabling her?

_ “I-I don’t know. This is very generous Mr. Stark but-” _

“Tony, and I keep these guys on retainer anyway so they may as well work on this.” His pauses for a second, “You’re an adult right. Cas mentioned some of you guys are young but I figure….”

Both Cas and Piper pause, they’re probably wearing equally surprised faces right now.

_ “Yeah, I’m eighteen. What does that-” _

“Good. I’ll fly you over first class and you can meet with the lawyers too seeing as all of your accounts are frozen.” At this point, she’s doing an impersonation of a fish and openly gaping at her father for his offer to her friend.

_ “I- thank you, Tony.” _ Her father rendered Piper McLean, the level headed girl who almost always knows what to say, speechless. Damn.

Piper gives her information so that Jarvis can send her directions and a  _ Demigod Airways _ plane ticket. He also sends her the information on the lawyers he plans to sic on Mr. McLean’s case as soon as Piper is there to get her father to agree. Cas hasn’t met the man but she has seen his movies. He’s a talented action star. More importantly though, she knows that he loves Piper even if he isn’t really built mentally to handle the strain of what they do. Piper, understandably, does not have fond memories of being shunted to the side by her father for his career but in Cas’s eyes it could be worse. That being said, Piper has been working on her relationship with her father so this is just cruel on the part of the zombie-Romans.

Cas needs to get to work on figuring out why they want Piper in LA though.

“I didn’t know Tristan McLean had a daughter.”

“Eh, most don’t. He kept her out of the spotlight through liberal application of boarding schools.” She leans back and bites her lip, “Thank you for helping.” He didn’t have to do that and she’s implied Triumvirate Holdings are in on Gods and Monsters, ha, forget implied. She said that they supply the Romans with property and weapons so her father knows these guys are dangerous. 

“Tell me about Triumvirate Holdings.”

Shit.

“Dad-”

“No.” Worth a try.

She takes a deep breath and starts with, “They’re Bond villain evil.”

He’s unmoved, “Good start, keep going.”

“This falls under the purview of current demigod happenings.” Maybe she can get him to drop this.

Predictably it doesn’t work, “And yet, I just involved myself so it’s my happenings too.” Funny how her own arguments get used against her.

Well, she didn’t have any other ideas for how to help Piper because she’s never dealt with a lawsuit before. There’s no regret for letting him help but there might be some guilt because she needed to, “What do you want me to say? It’s the villain of the week and if you want to sound the alarm on their actions in the mortal world I am all for it.” But please don’t try to blow them up.

“Villain of the week,” He actually crosses his arms and raises a brow, “That has you working to solidify alliances so that you can focus on the ‘mess of Roman origin’ and you have a problem with a company called Triumvirate Holdings.” Cas was not as subtle or as smart as she thought she was during that conversation with Jason but to be fair if they hadn’t gone after Piper’s dad this conversation would not be happening. “It adds up.”

Yeah, it does.

“Is a name really going to make you feel better?” Names have power but in this case he might be better off not knowing.

“Who are they, kid?”

“Well,” History lesson, “There are three and I only know the name of one of the big wigs,” Ugh, she doesn’t want to do this, “Remember how I said that the gods derive their power from belief,” He doesn’t acknowledge so she continues, “It’s a trickle to effect to demigods and their descendants at least a little….so in theory if I was to say convince an empire to iconize and worship me…” This is such a hubris riddled perversion that she is physically sickened by how Nero immortalized himself.

“You’d become a god.”

“No!” Hades no, they are not gods, they’re spirits with physical form and delusions of grandeur. “They aren’t gods but they are immortal.” She gets the feeling that they’re gunning for godhood though.

Her father sighs, “It’s not one of the good emperors is it? Like Marcus Aurelius?” Cas is a bit surprised by the name drop but the man has seen Gladiator. Either way she chooses not to argue about good being debatable there.

She decides to try one more time, “You are taking this so well. It’s amazing honestly but you can still let it go.”

His face says no and so does his tone, “I’ve involved SI assets now so it’s my business, spill.”

She tried, “It’s Nero. He’s trying to conquer the Eastern third of the United States.” Using some very shady and dishonorable tactics but she’d be insane to expect better of the man that lit his parties with torches made from Christian corpses. 

Cas feels bad for the stress she’s laying on her father right now. It’s all terrible and mortals haven’t been aware of the horrors that go on under their noses for a very long time. But at the same time, Cas isn’t like Shield and she doesn’t get to decide what people get to know. Especially her father. Her father that has short circuited next to a cutting board and she really wants to get back to the Pasta Primavera they were making. It’s far less stressful than this.

“How long have you known about this?”

Uh…. “Since the week before Christmas.”

When his open palm slams into the countertop she’s a bit surprised but mostly confused because she’s never seen her father express his anger physically before, “New deal, keep me in the loop for demigod events.”

What? “No.” They already agreed on this; he doesn’t get to just demand she tells him everything. A mortal has no business getting involved with fighting monsters anyway, Iron Man fights terrorists and crazy humans and Tony Stark invents things that change the world. He doesn’t fire missiles at the Hydra.

“Yes,” Excuse her, “You’re my daughter, currently living under my roof, and working in my company around my people.” That’s not fair. They knew. She made sure that they were aware that there are monsters out there and that she fights them on occasion. Chiron...they were certain that the monsters weren’t going to follow her back here but it was always a possibility. And her father is aware of that.

So, why is he playing this card now?

With or without keeping him in the loop she’s his daughter but no one knows that. So Triumvirate Holdings can’t know they’re related but because her father volunteered his services he’s connected himself to demigods. Malaka. Therefore, he has painted a target on his back and everyone else.

Gods, why did she let him talk to Piper? Why did she involve him?

“Given everything I’ve already done in my very long twenty one years, me being your daughter is not a valid argument. I’m an adult that has frequently risked her life and if the other two reasons are a problem...If you say my being here is too dangerous I’ll go.” She’ll leave even though she really doesn’t want to but she will not sign on to parental oversight on things that she can handle and he cannot. Cas didn’t try to fight the exploding drones. No, that was an Iron Man sort of problem and the zombies are a demigod sort of problem.

“That’s not-Look I’m trying the responsible parent thing but you are scary capable and I can help but you have to give me the problem so that I can find a solution.” Oh… “Not fragments of it, I need all of the pieces to put it together.”

Cas has an issue where when she finds a problem she needs to solve it. The problem doesn’t have to be her problem to become her goal. It becomes something she hyperfixates on and she can lose a lot of time to it. Chiron told her that attaching herself to a challenge until she emerges victorious is a common trait to Children of Nike. It’s true but she always felt that it failed to encapsulate her need to solve problems and find solutions that make things better than before. 

This isn’t like when someone challenged her to climb the lava wall blindfolded when she was fourteen. That’s just a compulsion to win that she’s learned to ignore but her inability to see something that’s wrong and walk away without finding a solution is different. Could be math, could be her demigod tech problem, could be a sad Apollo, she couldn’t walk away when she could fix it. She’s been getting better about sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong but….

How could she have ever thought she got that from her mother? Nike is like Darwinism incarnate sometimes. Her mother would never stop to help a demigod with low chances of survival. She would never try to guarantee the universal survival of demigods either. Her mother would say that if they couldn’t keep up with the changes then….well.

Huh. She must have gotten it from her father then.

“This isn’t a problem that you’re going to be able to solve,” She holds up a hand to stop him, “I’m not directly in the line of fire like others are, like Piper apparently, and I’m doing my best to stay on the sidelines.” Not that it’s worked so far, “I swear going to New Rome next week is purely talking and I’m good at that. Besides, are you going to double standard me or are you going to involve me in every Iron Man/Shield thing you get into?”

“If I think your input is useful then yes.” Oh really, “I already did when I called you during the Expo.” Dammit. “And initiating a legal battle is not on the sidelines.” Yeah, probably not but Cas really did not see something like that coming.

She tries to find another way to wiggle out of this but she can’t.

She lost. Again. Damn, that stings. 

“From what we know, the emperors are trying to absorb/control the sources of prophecy which they will use to predict, control, and conquer the demigods before moving on to the mortal world and probably Olympus.” This is of course all speculation because all she knows is that the Oracles are in danger and that Nero wants to conquer America with two other emperors.

“Like your missing Oracle and the book you threw at not-so-tiny Tim,” Not a bad description of Jason.

She never actually told her father that they found her, “Rachel’s fine she needed a shower but that’s all.”

“Three pre-Christian Roman emperors are trying to conquer the world using a corporation as a front.” When he says it like that it sounds absolutely ridiculous like Medusa owning a garden statue store.

“Aren’t you glad you’re a mortal?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know that meme with the fence where the guy is shouting 'LET ME IN.' On the other side of the fence are all of Cas's demigod based activities.


	13. Cas likes Talking but not...Talking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Rome guys!!!
> 
> I took some liberties which ties into my original aim to make the story more mature without taking away from the whimsy. One of which is I made sure everyone knows that Hazel is not a 13-14 y/o girl. If I have any readers that age, please do not enter potentially physical relationships with 15-16 y/o. Please...
> 
> Like there are much cooler things to be doing at 13. Take up Tae Kwon Do and learn to use a sword. Join a robotics club and build a battlebot. Read PJO. That's the end of my discomfort rant on Hazel and Frank's canon relationship. Thank you.
> 
> THE ROMANS. Guys, I have thoughts on the Romans. They will be readily apparent. Overall, I like them. Throughout this story as it develops I will be scraping at my limited, but hopefully improving with practice, political knowledge. The sciences are my thing and the most public debate/defense thing I've done was my senior project in college where I had to 'convince' a professor that my research was worth giving a grant to. I read stuff and do my best. This is the preliminary round of politicking since they're all kids still even if they don't feel or act like it so I'm not overly concerned.
> 
> The point is that by the time Cas is significantly older I intend to have read more on legitimate political processes so that I'm not just making things up.
> 
> Thank you for reading, you beautiful luminous beings.
> 
> <3

She doesn’t tell her father about Meg and Apollo, in fact she doesn’t tell him about the whole ‘vacation’ fiasco. There’s a moderate amount of guilt but she only holds back on details not the important points which is Lester and two others are working directly against the Emperors and everyone else is on support status. “They’re fine. They have a giant metal dragon. See? This is Festus.” He accepts what she tells him and doesn’t press further but she has this sinking feeling that he’s aware that he’s getting the SparkNotes and not the whole story.

Piper is twitchy and anxious when she arrives and she only briefly greets Cas before setting off in a car for her home. She snags Mr. McLean and Mellie to meet with the lawyers her father offered but Cas doesn’t get to go obviously because a legal case is confidential. They, Cas and her father, defend their actions involving her father’s (Or is SI’s lawyers? She doesn’t know.) to Pepper though and she softens immediately and then hardens when Triumvirate Holdings is mentioned. Another person that’s better prepared for this particular battlefield. Another person that Cas didn’t really want involved in this although Pepper seems content to stick to ‘their actions in mortal society are shady and bad.’ 

SI lawyers move really fast. It’s very impressive and when all of this is done Cas will have questions but for now she convinces Piper to join her for the trip to New Rome. Having the point of view of someone directly affected by the actions of Triumvirate Holdings may convince the Senate to act. Especially since they can directly lay the blame of an attack on a Greek demigod by a heretical Roman legacy, sort of like Octavius.

This is how Cas ended up pulling into New Rome with Piper while driving her father’s R8 Spyder because she only has one bike helmet and no matter how durable a demigod is in the event of a crash head plus pavement is not pretty. That and she cashed in her joy ride ticket for her father missing her presentation for the senate hearing in DC. They draw some eyes when they step out of the beautiful machine but that could be the Audi or it could be the STARK 11 license plate.

It’s fine, the cat’s going to be out of the bag soon anyway.

Standing in New Rome is always a contrary experience for Cas because the way it’s built is both beautiful and frustrating. It’s beautiful because it’s like the history books come to life. Great marble promenades with frescos and facades act as a time warp back to the height of the Roman Empire. It’s frustrating because it’s a time warp back to the height of the Roman Empire. Camp Half-Blood is a fusion of antiquity and modernity that works somehow but New Rome is like the Renaissance Fair full time. And Cas doesn’t understand why they want to live like that. Sure they have plumbing and bakeries and phones (her phones) but there are people wearing togas and strappy leather sandals just because they can.

Pants are a wonderful thing that should be used.

Also, she’s still bitter about their isolationist tendencies. Cas knows she’d go insane if she had to live in one city for her own safety. Greek heroes are known wanderers who settle down at the end of their adventures if they happen to survive. At the same time, she’s envious that they have a city that they and their families are safe in. The idea of a pretty bird cage rankles but Hazel told her that if a legionnaire makes it to retirement they’re pretty much guaranteed to die of old age. They just have to live in one place to do it.

It’s a pretty picture but as Cas has already established it’s not sustainable anymore and eventually they won’t be able to leave their city at all if nothing changes. She’s working on that and hopefully when the time comes the Romans will take a collective step forward along with the Greeks. Otherwise, it’s going to get awkward.

_ “Hey demigods that we’ve just gotten used to, why is there a fully militarized zone for demigods in California?” _

She’s not predicting the future exactly but something like that question is best avoided.

Crossing the Pomerium is always a bit of a surreal experience for Cas because it is literally the only time that she is unarmed. The no weapons in the city rule still goes strong and it applies heavily to her since her spear is bound to her person and not a small object like a pen, coin, ring, or whatever. It goes like this Cas can feel her spear and she can also feel Terminus breathing down her neck just waiting for her to summon it.

Cas has no desire to find out what the border god will do to her for calling it to her person.

She doesn’t let that stop her from enthusiastically jumping her greeting party and then cringing. Hazel Levesque, the sixteen year old Daughter of Pluto, is taller than her. Cas has already admitted to herself that she loves her father but she wishes he was a little bit taller. Just a couple more inches would be great so that she isn’t dwarfed by all of the 5’ 10’’ plus individuals in her life. At least Leo is still shorter even if he is closing the gap. And Frank Zhang, forget it, the overpowered beast is 6’ 5’’ so everyone looks tiny next to him but Reyna more than makes up for it with presence.

While Piper catches up with Frank and Hazel, Cas turns to Reyna, “Hey Praetor,” and offers her arm. 

Reyna clasps it in return and says, “Hello Strategos, thank you for my recent migraine.”

Ha.

Her grin is unrepentant, “You’re welcome. Good news, I hope.”

She rolls her eyes in response, “When does that happen?” True, “Come, you’re going to want Argentum and Aurum around for this.” The automaton dogs that eat liars and guard the Praetor seats have been deemed necessary audience members. Yikes.

“Lead the way.” This is going to be such an informative day on all fronts.

~~~

Unfortunately, seeing as this is official business, Hazel couldn’t join them for their talks since she’s only a centurion. It’s too bad because she’s another very level headed individual with a very different perspective than the rest of them. Her first death was in the 40s and while she’s largely adapted to the modern era Hazel can always add to a discussion from another angle.

Ah, well. It’s not her house so it’s not her rules.

After everything they’ve been through together there’s no standing on ceremony or seats and posturing. Nope, the four of them sit down around a table of pizza rolls and assorted juices because they’re classy like that. The dogs mill around the table and Cas doesn’t resist occasionally tossing one a roll even if Reyna gives her the stink eye. They’re metal dogs and it’s her, the dogs get pizza rolls.

Reyna begins the discussions, “Let’s start with the formal apology to the Greeks for New Rome failing to stop Octavian from inappropriately allocating funds on behalf of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata.”

That’s what they’re going with then, lay all of the blame on a dead man and he can’t defend himself. Fine, it’s not worth the oversight argument at this point since the Praetors are likely to keep a closer eye on spending in the future anyway.

“And we,” Cas gestures at herself and Piper, “Formally accept on Camp Half-Blood’s behalf.” Sadly Piper is going to be limited to the role of witness because her Aphrodite status and charmspeaking abilities can and will be used against her. Reyna and Frank know it’s a load of pegasus dung but there’s nothing to be done about that right now. “Let’s talk about why the building is still a Roman property.” They need to get this out of the way and then they can move on to their joint response to the Zombie Emperors.

Frank gives what is clearly a practised but good answer, “Following the battle we felt that it was in everyone’s best interest to wait until tensions eased more before establishing that we have a permanent base in New York.” It’s a fair point, “No one anticipated that Triumvirate Holdings would turn out to be the enemy six months later.”

Boom. There it is.

If they had come forward and said they have a nice fortification sitting pretty in Manhattan immediately after the battle it would not have been received well. It could’ve been an afterthought, would’ve been an afterthought for everyone if it weren’t for Nero’s involvement. They worked with an enemy of Greece though and that doesn’t fly especially since the emperors are Roman. However, they’ve provided solid reasoning and denounced them as enemies in the same breath.

Cool. They’re playing ball.

She shall rock the boat they are playing ball on, “Then I’m sure New Rome wouldn’t be opposed to selling the building to Camp Half-Blood for the original purchasing price given that you bought it from enemies from your empire.” She won’t demand it as restitution but they don’t get to keep it.

Frank isn’t as practiced in politics as Reyna and it shows in his shifting so the senior Praetor takes the volley, “Our current stance is that the building can serve as a Roman embassy of sorts for those visiting Camp Half-Blood.”

Oh? It’s a good thing that Annabeth isn’t here because she would take offense to that. She can still remember the frustrated conversations with her back in July when Annabeth was designing a cabin for Roman visitors to their specifications.

“Was the base of operations we provided in Camp Half-Blood unsatisfactory?” So unsatisfactory that they’re willing to risk a more permanent connection to heretics?

There’s a sigh from Frank but a frustrated Reyna says, “The Senate felt it better for the long term if we had our own facilities regardless of their origins.” Reyna throws them right under the bus. Okay, cool. Frank and Reyna want the building gone for the black mark it is but the conservative Senate majority don’t want to lose a strategic advantage.

“I wonder how the Senate would respond if Camp Half-Blood purchased a similar property in Berkeley.” It’s only fair after all.

Frank, dear Frank has this in response, “I hope you plan on running that by the Senate before you do it.”

Ha.

“Nah, I kind of like Berkeley now that I’ve been here a few times and it stinks that there’s nothing,” She takes a deep breath and puts on a thinking face, “Greek nearby. What do you think?” Beside her Piper snorts inelegantly even as she kicks Cas’s ankle.

Reyna though, “From what I understand, Camp Half-Blood brings in enough money to maintain itself, not expand.” It did but now Cas has money and room to grow and invest so Camp Half-Blood has money and room to grow and invest. And Reyna doesn’t appear to be attacking Camp Half-Blood financial status despite her words, no, she’s curious.

Gods, this is fun.

“For now,” She smiles and Piper kicks her again.

“Don’t tell me Tony Stark is that invested in helping demigods after a few months of you working for him.” Ah, so Reyna noted her use of her father’s car and so did Frank.

She could do this nicely. She really really could but where’s the fun in that, “He’s coming around but his daughter is definitely on board.” The dogs do nothing because there is no lie. 

Piper releases a quiet, “You couldn’t help yourself, could you?” No, she really couldn’t. It’s just this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Reyna’s eyes immediately narrow as she looks over Cas and assesses her features, probably trying to compare her to whatever mental image of her father that she can pull up. Frank breaks the glass he’s holding, getting his grape juice everywhere while Cas sits back and sips her apple juice contentedly.

He didn’t notice that though, “I can see it.” Is all he says.

Reyna has to ask the pressing questions, “Did he know?” Because she has a fast head on her shoulders but it’s a respectful one too. 

Cas doesn’t know Reyna’s full story but she knows it’s bad so when Cas says, “Nope, but he does now. We’re working on it.” The topic is dropped immediately. Everyone knows better than to dig into a demigod’s past. If it’s relevant they’ll share but no one is ever expected to talk about everything. Cas’s past is not relevant but where she is now is important.

“Now that Cas has established that she’s the richest demigod can we move on?” And there’s Piper to keep them on task.

“Right,” She smiles, “I actually do have the money to buy a building in Berkeley and turn it into a Greek embassy but you’ve already opened space in your city for visitors and I’d hate to have future students have to commute so far to New Rome University. Also, that sounds like a hassle and I’d rather just buy the Manhattan building from you at a fair price.” Her father only specified a jet or a pony so she’s not overstepping. And according to Pepper, since she’s an adult and soon to be a Stark legally she gets direct access to the fortune anyway. 

Which is just….damn. There’s about to be a lot of zeros in her net worth.

Frank smiles right back, “I think the Senate would rather just sell the building to Camp Half-Blood rather than accept Greek occupation so close by.” Of course they would.

“Excellent! Let’s move on to the more important topics. Pipes, you’re up.” Cas has some pizza rolls to eat. She can’t wait to tell Annabeth that she’s getting a building in Manhattan to renovate. There are things that Cas wants to put in it too but that’s for later.

For now, Cas is content with the knowledge that the Praetors are going to back her on the building. How much action she can squeeze out of New Rome on the zombie front is another issue entirely. The Romans say that they were told to settle here to keep an eye out for Titan resurgence by the gods and to guard Mt. Othrys/Tamalpais. However, before they crossed the country by land or by sea the entirety of the titan army was situated in San Francisco and the Romans did nothing. They waited until the main army was gone and then they attacked Mt. Othrys.

It’s a bit of a delayed reaction to Cas and she’s never had enough time in the last year to bring it up. The only conclusion she can come to is that New Rome was content to maintain their borders while the rest of the world fended for itself. Again, isolationism…. She’ll disregard it though because they weren’t allies at the time or aware that the other existed but this time they have no excuse since the Emperors are theirs.

Piper, a natural storyteller, launches into an explanation of how Triumvirate Holdings moved against her and her father personally. According to Piper, the lawyers should be able to get everything back (SI only hires the best) but it’s going to take time so she needs to stick around in case the Emperors try anything underhanded and fantastical in origin.

“You realize this is exactly what they want from you right?” Frank is not a politician yet but he does know strategy as a Child of Mars.

“Yes, but we don’t know why. Jason implied New Rome has some information on one of the Emperors.” She trips a little bit over Jason’s name but powers through it. 

“That’s right,” Reyna says, “He found one of the sybils on his own.” He did what? Dammit. That brat told her this wasn’t urgent. Stupid Superman. “Don’t worry, we chewed him out for that move.” Good. Cas likes a living Jason Grace thank you very much.

Whatever, it’s already done.

“Which one and where is she?” She? It? Before Rachel became the Oracle of Delphi the previous one was more like an ‘it’ than a lady at the end there.

“From what Jason heard it’s the Erythraean Sibyl and she’s in the Labyrinth,” Frank says.

That’s definitely one of Apollo’s. She would write things in acrostics making them puzzles and poems and prophecies all wrapped up in one. And it always comes down to Daedalus’s Labyrinth doesn’t it?

“Did he talk to her?” Because prophecies are tricky things especially for a child of the Big Three like Jason. Just because the straight message suggests death doesn’t mean that it will end with their deaths but that doesn’t mean it isn’t scary to hear a seeress allude to one's demise.

Now, Reyna looks frustrated, “He wouldn’t say. He just said that it was impossible to get to her.” Joy. And he can fly which means there's likely a trick to it.

Huh.

“What are the odds of you two sending a cohort or two to take the area until we can figure out how to get her out?” Because if they can at least secure her until they find a solution then one of the Emperors loses access to prophecies. That is an important goal and leads to two important conclusions. One, the West coast emperor loses immediate access to an Oracle. Two, the West coast emperor will lose face with his ‘allies’. Triumvirates are a very unstable ruling structure and it would save everyone time if they fight among themselves.

With the Sibylline books secured and now heavily guarded by the Romans (with Ella and Tyson from what she’s heard) along with the Grove of Dodona being protected in Camp Half-Blood they’re down in the points. Trophonius, Erythraea, and Delphi.

Cas doesn’t know where the Caves of Trophonius are now and Python is sitting in Delphi awaiting the inevitable showdown with Apollo but this one can be blocked off. The Romans have always been great at occupying places of varying climates seeing as they conquered the Britons and parts of Africa. Therefore, the Labyrinth should be a piece of cake as previously stated the Greeks have been using it as a training ground since Pasiphae was killed.

“We?” Frank looks surprised.

Shit. She’s surprised that came out too.

“What Cassie means is that we are happy to help the Twelfth Legion but we have no intention of intruding.” Right, that. Thanks, Piper. Cas is maintaining her distance because she is just here for talks like she promised her father. She is not here to march with the legion to occupy part of the Labyrinth even if it sounds like a very memorable camping trip.

Reyna looks thoughtful again though, “Since Jason brought this information forward we could in theory call for a quest. LA is close enough as you’ve proven and it’s a new age, there’s no reason to wait for them to come for us.” Cas drives very fast so that doesn’t mean anything but…she’ll take this more offensive mindset against the zombies.

Wait.

That idiot went maze diving in LA and he didn’t invite her or even let her know he was in town to do it. When did Jason do this? She’s hitting him for this. How could he? Cas lives right there.

Whatever. Priorities and goals.

Secure the Erythraean Sibyl until there’s a solution to get her out. That is something that the legion is more than capable of doing but Cas will have to leave that for the Praetors to sell to the senate.

Regardless, Cas really wants the Romans to actively move against the zombie emperors because, as much as it bothers her, they have a significantly larger standing force than the Greeks do. They’re also far more organized and better at moving as a group. 

The Greeks are more creative and infinitely harder to predict though. Obviously.

“Well, if New Rome rescues the Oracle of Erythraea as in Crete as in Greece then Camp Half-Blood would be just as grateful as I imagine New Rome was when the Sibylline book was returned unharmed.” She planned on using the book for the building but this is much more important. That area needs to be Team Zombie free, please and thank you. 

This is very important actually. Shit. She really wants this done if she so easily dropped that favor.

Frank and Piper both look at Cas expectantly because they must have noticed that she’s really pushing this. Giving up the book favor for this is a biggie. Reyna, however, doesn’t know Cas as well, “You want to spend that favor on getting New Rome to do a quest for something we should already be doing?”

Cas looks Reyna dead in the eyes and says, “It is very important that we secure the Oracle.” That’s how they’re going to ensure a win on this leg of the conflict. At the very least it will weaken or even split the Western Emperor’s forces between where he wants them and where the Romans are on the offensive.

“You’re sure?”

Oh Reyna, Frank takes this one, “When Cas gets like this it’s best to just go with it.” Yep. She won’t shut up about it otherwise.

“If you can, you should send the fifth cohort. Hazel will be an asset in the Labyrinth.” Cas was kind of dying at the time but she vaguely remembers something about Hazel tricking Pasiphae. She’s unlikely to ever get the true story because Hazel is on the modest side and Leo is Leo. He could make returning a library book sound as daring as the Battle of Marathon. 

~~~

They retire until the evening after that because as much as Cas wants to, she cannot monopolize the Praetors for an entire day. Cas and Piper would also be content to spend their time with Hazel but they’re not legionnaires and aren’t welcome in Camp Jupiter either. It sucks because there are official channels to get them into Camp Jupiter set up through the exchange program but they’re here as diplomats. So no bothering Hazel or messing with the visiting Greeks (to be honest she doesn’t know who’s here) meaning Cas and Piper get to wander around New Rome for a while.

The Lares glare at them and hiss out ‘Graecus’ and some of the people turn away from them. Others welcome them and ask questions. Gold is gold so drachme equals denari and that means they buy stuff. Cas is fairly certain that she was price gouged on some cookies of all things but she doesn’t fight it.

They do get to have dinner with their three present Romans and other than a laugh or two at Frank’s expense for being surrounded by women; it's a somber affair. There’s a lot on their minds and it all rides on the next day.

She hopes that the Senate is in a good mood.

A solid game plane is put together for how they’re attacking the Senate factions though. Jason’s initial plan for the city’s revamp was recently submitted so they hope to soften them up with the Statue offer. And, though Cas is loath to admit it, they will be requesting aid on their own internal restructuring.

‘Have a gift and please help our underdeveloped pseudo-governance get rolling’ is what their opening is. Also, Reyna and Frank spent the day pushing that holding on to the ‘embassy’ is bad for future relations and in invitation for Camp Half-Blood to make (reasonable) demands.

In return for a building, New Rome gets a shiny new statue and bragging rights for having a superior system in place. Fine. But when they’re done the Greek one will be so much better. Because it will be new and not a miniature replica of ancient times.

And for getting the Labyrinth retaken…. Cas suggests that they push that the Greeks have already secured the Grove of Dodona and New Rome can’t let them have all the glory. She gets a sigh from Frank and the stink eye from Reyna but if it works then Cas can no longer complain about their isolationism. 

~~~

The Senate is not in a good mood but then again they never have been before.

They fought her on everything while hashing out the details of the exchange program. This time Cas watches them from her seat next to Piper fight to not send anyone for the Oracle.

The primary counterargument they’re running with is that it’s Apollo’s quest.

Well, when Apollo is a god again he’ll thank the people who helped him, unless he forgets, but it’s safer to help than ignore him. The Praetors are valiantly arguing their case and back in Camp Half-Blood there would probably be volunteers already. New Rome is a very different place though and it’s going to be a while.

She doesn’t see how they can be okay with their opponent literally sitting there in sight but do nothing in response. For comparison, Camp Half-Blood had plans in the making for the Princess Andromeda from the moment they heard it had crossed the Panama Canal.

When Piper gives her testimony about what the Triumvirate has done to her family the senate sneers not just because she is a daughter of Aphrodite but because her circumstances touch on one of the oldest and not so noblest of an emperor's traditions. While assassinations were common too, if an emperor drained their coffers just a little too much rather than cut back on spending they would kill the rich and seize their properties. Of course, this wealthy individual had alway conveniently committed treason before he was beheaded.

Despite how slow it’s going they are winning the senate over.

Eventually, thank the gods, after far too long, the Senate agrees to the sendoff and fully arms two cohorts. Someone helpfully pointed out that New Rome’s negligence enabled the zombies to grow more powerful in the first place. Now in ancient Rome a cohort contained around 480 legionnaires and a legion consisted of ten infantry cohorts among other things. The standing forces of New Rome are a tenth what the original had, meaning they agreed to send ninety six fully armed Romans to take the Labyrinth.

Yay.

If this was just the morning Senate session then she can’t wait to deal with the afternoon one holds for her because before when Cas met with them on the exchange program they were only talking details. This is a bit larger.

Cas and Piper agreed beforehand that getting the cohorts sent out immediately takes priority and deferred their turn with the Senate until the legionnaires were on the move. And Cas now has new respect for the Romans because Hazel snaps her people into go mode in a couple of hours. The Romans literally have busses which are just…. a bus of armed Romans is intimidating. 

Piper agrees if the, “Why don’t we have this?” means what Cas thinks it means. She’s working on it. They’re unlikely to become a military engine because that’s not in the spirit of Greek demigods but they could stand to shape up a bit. The flying chariot argument never would have occurred in a system like this.

Whatever. It’s not important.

What is important is watching from the Hill as demigods and legacies load up supplies and prepare to go all within three hours. They eat lunch while it happens and after the grassy meal someone declares the senate recess is over. 

Which is just great, Cas was just beginning to relax.

It goes about as well as can be expected with condescension raining down on her for being Greek, for lacking a lineage, and for the great crime of not being Roman. She turns a few heads with the statue offer though.

“I spoke with your Pontifex Maximus regarding the Ara Victoria and the Greek Camp would be honored to offer our artisans to craft the statue of Nike for you.” She’s laying it on thick but it works with these types and the traditionalists are all for having a legitimate Greek statue instead of a Roman replica.

She garners even more favor when she says, “Camp Half-Blood is requesting a consultant to assist in the development of a more organized democratic system given our recent population surge.” Because who doesn’t like being told they’re better at something and then be given the chance to demonstrate.

And from there she moves to say, “Camp Half-Blood, in the spirit of equality and full disclosure, has plans to purchase a nearby property for the purposes of building an embassy.” Equality and full disclosure, yeah. If they want a building then the Greeks get one too and if they had told Camp Half-Blood sooner then this would be done nicer. By the way, it’s already being done, Cas isn’t asking for permission.

They don’t take it very well if the sudden shouting and loss of composure is meant to be taken seriously.

She hears someone say ‘Act of War.’ Cute.

Reyna and Frank try to call the Senate back to order but it takes nearly ten minutes for them to quiet down. Cas doesn’t mind, she watches satisfied at the disorder she’s caused. 

It’s fun.

“We are open to alternative suggestions but unless a satisfactory solution is brought forward this is our only course of action to preserve the balance between our factions.” Chiron would be proud.

There’s obviously a whole lot of blowback for that statement and Cas is prepared for it even as Reyna and Frank glare at her. However, if Cas can get this presented the way she wants then she wins a whole lot easier.

Someone tries to suggest that they purchase property in San Francisco, which no, it’s pretty but it’s got a bad history for demigods. Earthquakes and titans. That’s a hard pass.

She rips apart half a dozen very firm ‘suggestions’ before someone finally, finally, gives Cas the opening that she’s been waiting for. “Would Camp Half-Blood be amenable to taking the Manhattan building off of New Rome’s hands? This argument could be avoided if we kill the embassy plan. It was originally purchased by a traitor from the enemy anyway.” Thank you. Her saviour is a male senator on the younger side. He probably retired from the legion in the last year or so. 

Ah. He may have fallen prey to Octavian's orders and now wants everything of his gone.

Cas can do that.

“That would solve a mutual problem.” She smiles, “If New Rome sells the building to Camp Half-Blood at purchase price then we would be happy to drop the issue.” She spent her book favor on getting Hazel command in the Labyrinth so she’ll be spending a bit more money. It doesn’t matter though because she got what she wanted.

There is another hour spent on this issue because there are detractors that cling to the building for one reason or another but there are others who accuse the detractors of sympathizing with enemies of New Rome. They shut up quickly after that. And of course they want to haggle over a price because there’s a chance to get something else from their allies out of this mess. She doesn’t move on this though and ensures that they know to contact Camp Half-Blood directly for signatures and such. The building won’t be in her name.

By the time that they wrap up they’ve been in session for over five hours and Hazel must have arrived in LA by now. Cas would love to be in Malibu right now because she’s done with politicking for the day.

So of course the universe provides as it always does.

A fully armored runner comes flying in with a missive clutched in his fist. (The Senate has a no tech on hand rule…. She doesn’t like it.) He shoves it into Frank’s waiting hand and everyone holds their breath to find out what could be so important that they interrupted a closed meeting.

Frank and Reyna put their heads together and talk but no one can hear what they’re saying.

Frank then looks at Cas and Piper and motions for them to follow him out and as they’re leaving they hear Reyna say, “We have been contacted by Apollo and Leo Valdez of Camp Half-Blood. An attack has been planned by the Emperors on New Rome five days from now.”

What the fuck.

She isn’t paying attention to where she’s walking so Piper snags her arm to guide her as she collects her things and they head out into the city.

“They’ve identified the Middle American emperor.” Oh that’s promising, she’ll work on how she can hel- “It’s Commodus.” Oh, gods. Why couldn’t it have been Diocletian? He’s another paranoid burny burny man but Commodus is a vainglorious paranoid man who played dress up as a gladiator. On second thought, she wishes for neither. “We want you and Piper out of here for this.”

Wait, what?

“Five days is a long time, Frank.” Tell him Piper, “We can help.”

He shakes his head though, “That’s not the point,” Please, what is the point, “Camp Half-Blood fended off Nero already.” Ah.

“Invasions are not the time for pride, Matchstick.” Frank glares like he always does at that nickname but hey, she’s gotta keep him humble. He’s a freakishly powerful demigod.

“We need to do this and there’s already those exchange Greeks here. They’ll be welcomed to fight with us.” He gives them a confident look, “Five days is a long time and we’ll be able to call forth the retired legion as well. A week is a lot more time than I’m used to getting so believe me when I say we’ll be alright but you and Piper need to be ready with Jason to help Apollo if he needs it.” Cas can hardly believe that this man before her used to be that awkward boy Percy dragged along behind him onto the Argo II.

“We can do that.” Piper says.

Wait. Back up….

“Why does Apollo need our help?” Logic states that he’s coming West next and they have an Oracle here anyway but helping….Who is she kidding? Cas just nearly volunteered to defend against an invasion and this isn’t even her home.

“Leo is flying straight here on Festus to assist since they failed to capture Commodus,” Joy, “Apollo is coming through the Labyrinth with a couple of other people because a prophecy told him to.” Just wonderful.

Well, “At least we got that force sent to the Labyrinth before this happened. It’ll divert invaders and Hazel can lock them down with the underground advantage.” She’s so glad that she pushed for that.

Frank agrees, “Yeah, I’m glad you got her out of the city for this.” For different reasons but she’ll take it. How much safer she is currently is up for debate.

They’re led straight to the car which is just too bad. Cas didn’t want to have to drive through the night. Piper and Cas hug Frank before they drive off into the night. She has a Jason to track down for being an obtuse and stubborn ass.


	14. Stepping on Butterflies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY 81st BIRTHDAY MARVEL!!!!
> 
> Guys, I have a very serious question for you.
> 
> Do you want the update Wed & Sat or do you want a double update on Sat? LET ME KNOW!

Piper can be considered her neighbor if a fifteen minute drive can be considered part of the same neighborhood. As a sort of resident of NY, Cas disagrees because you drive ten minutes in NYC and the connected boroughs (disregarding traffic) and end up somewhere very different. But if you ask Piper then Cas and she are neighbors.

Fine.

Cas dropped her neighbor off in the middle of the night after spending the drive haranguing Jason on the phone for being stupid enough to assign himself to Oracle rescue without having the good sense to tell them. She promptly went home and slept this problem away because in four days New Rome would be under attack and they have declined her direct assistance from the onset.

Which really freaking sucks, but it’s their home and they have a right to say no to Greek help. At least they’re letting Leo in if only to have a fire breathing dragon on hand. She plans to sleep in because no one is expecting her back for another day and a half so it’s not like she has to work the next day.

Of course, she’s not allowed to sleep past eight.

“Good morning, Dr. Campeao. The weather is Malibu…” He continues through his preset wakeup routine and she doesn’t know why because she has no alarms set. Cas pulls a pillow over her head and attempts to ignore the sunlight clawing for her attention.

She’s not interested, please and thank you.

“Your father would like to know if you plan on coming down soon.”

No. She is a burrito.

“Let that geriatric monster know I got everything I wanted,” Which is true, “I came back early because the Romans have their own Roman things that came up and wanted the Greeks out of the way.” Further reflection on Frank’s and Reyna’s reactions suggest that they were concerned that she and Piper could be accused of intentionally weakening the Roman forces by getting two cohorts sent out. Since one of those cohorts has a child of the Big Three in it, it’s a big accusation. “....Please.” Because it’s not Jarvis’s fault that her father is mean.

It’s for the best that they were out of the way before senators and citizens could decide that it’s their fault. The Greeks in Camp Jupiter are under the Praetors’ command so there’s no need to be worried about them.

Cas proceeds to get three more hours of sleep. 

When she finally does make it to the kitchen to feed herself there’s a full pot of coffee awaiting her, which makes her suspicious. Her father does not leave out full pots of coffee; it isn’t in his programming. Cas is used to sharing her stuff with the notable exception of her bike and her now obsolete homemade equipment while her father is not.

It should be noted that he is a solid housemate though. Gym 10/10, Garage 10/10, Labs 8/10 because of secret project, Food availability 6/10, and unsanctioned alarm clocks 2/10.

“Jarvis, what’s going on?”

“You are needed down in the lab, doctor.”

That’s not ominous.

“Can I eat first?” Because it’s been a while.

She gets no response and chooses to interpret the silence as a yes. She also takes her time because she doesn’t accept being ordered around by her father.

~~~

There’s a certain level of self deception circulating her mind right now. She knows that since Apollo is coming here and Piper is being personally attacked by Triumvirate Holdings that Cas will find herself involved in what’s coming. She also knows that she got lucky with the Colossus Neronis and their opponent underestimated them. That’s unlikely to happen twice. So while a part of her brain wants to tell her father that she’s about to walk right into a fight, the other part really wants to enjoy this mortal life she has here.

She’s half way down the stairs with two coffees in her hand because she’s nice like that when her father calls out, “Did you get lost?”

Does that qualify as a dad joke?

“Insulting, I have a flawless sense of direction,” Jarvis unlocks the door for her and she kicks it open, “What do you want?” Because she could be distracting herself from the impending invasion of New Rome with Val Kilmer and Real Genius right now but instead she’s here trying not to spill her guts to her father.

“Get over here,” He says without turning from the table he’s working at surrounded by the bots that look to be trying to help with something. Is this the secret project?

Color her curious. She crosses the room sipping her cup of life and goes to hand the other to her father but stops when she sees what he’s working on. It looks like some sort of vest cut like the bullet proof ones from movies and tv but the color….

“Is that celestial bronze and…?” Something else in a woven pattern only Athena herself could decipher.

“Carbon fiber tri weave. Those metal slabs from your application video were a little old fashioned for me.” Duh, but Cas never had means or need to make something like this. “Took a while to get the right balance of flexibility and resilience but I figure it’s a practical demigod Christmas present.”

She’s already placed the mugs on the table and reaches out carefully to touch it, “How did you draw the wires so thin?” It’s beautiful to look at and while not as tricked out like her father’s armor, this is much more her style in combat. 

“After I found the melting point,” It’s 982.64 celsius and he could have asked her, “Jarvis and I worked backwards to find the best working temperature. Then it was trial and error.”

This is the secret project. Gods, this is, “Amazing.” She lifts if from the table. The sides have manual adjustments as do the shoulders. The inside lining is something fine enough to wear directly on the skin so this is for anytime or in public without drawing the eye. Walking down the street decked out in bronze is a bit eye catching but this…. The presence of the bronze gives it a faint glow like always but with the carbon fiber interwoven it’s dulled down considerably. Again, this can go under clothes.

It weighs maybe, “This is what? Ten? Fifteen pounds?”

“Thirteen.” She’s good but she doesn’t know a child of Hephaestus capable of creating something like this. Her father is brilliant. “Tested it against firearms so it will hold up against most side arms,” Not likely to be a problem since she’s never been shot at before, “And I had Jarvis mock up a knife from some of the sample. It held up to that too but I don’t hit as hard as you do.”

They can test that now.

She lays it flat against the table, calls her spear, and stabs. The table dents beneath it but she doesn’t pierce the top layer. There’s not much kinetic redistribution so that force is still going to hurt but it’s better than being stabbed. “I got you that bronze so that you could have fun with it not so that you could change the way I fight monsters.” But she will most certainly take it. Especially since she’s looking at some upcoming action.

“Can’t I do both?” He can, “Besides I still have roughly sixty eight pounds to work with.” Gods, he made this with six pounds and change. The lightest cuirass that fits her back at camp is in the realm of twenty pounds of bronze. This is subtle, maneuverable, and lighter than anything she’s used before.

“Thank you,” There’s nothing else for her to say in the face of this. “Can I….can I share the design for this?” Because this is something that the Hephaestus kids will drool over. Her father may actually get that statue now.

“It’s yours,” She looks at him from the corner of her eye, “But this is just the prototype.” Right, she needs to field test this first, “Like your bike helmet.” They hadn’t finished that yet but her father walks off and then plunks the thing down in front of her.

She says ‘thing’ affectionately because it is now the first officially complete side project between the both of them. She also says ‘thing’ because it’s red and she wanted it in blue.

“Why is it red?” She bets that he has a wonderful answer lined up and it would be a shame to deny him the chance to use it.

Her father picks up the other mug she brought down and takes a sip before answering, “The color you picked was wrong so I fixed it.”

“Against my suggestion, Dr. Campeao.” Ha. Everyone needs more Jarvis in their life.

Her father disagrees at the moment though, “No one asked you.” 

Okay, she doesn’t know what she wants to test first because mentally she knows one at a time is best for clearest results even if they shouldn’t impact each other. This is officially where she’s dumping her brain power for the rest of the day.

“Start with the helmet so we can calibrate the AR and upload Jarvis.”

This is even better than Christmas. The OS on the helmet is smooth and according to her father it’s a stripped version of what he runs Iron Man on. It’s not like she needs flight or weapons programs but she has navigation, communication, motion tracking, and threat detection. 

She takes it out for a spin on her bike so that her reaction times can be recorded to optimize the system’s performance. Javis has the audacity to put the legal speed limits for the road on the display as if that would slow her down. 

It doesn’t.

This is so much better than the previous model.

~~~

Cas spent that day and the part of the next working and mentally gearing up for whatever the imminent arrival of Apollo was going to drop into her lap. To be perfectly, one hundred percent, and completely honest with herself she’s drowning in dread right now which is absolutely horrible. The last time she felt like this was the hours before Annabeth went ‘alone’ to follow the Mark of Athena. Yeah, that was a bad day.

Hopefully, this whole affair doesn’t end with another one way trip to Tartarus….unless she gets to 300 kick Nero, Commodus and whoever else is on Team Zombie down the hole. That wouldn’t be so bad but when do things ever head down the easy route. So she can’t say that she wasn’t expecting something to happen when she was walking out of SI with Pepper and Happy in the early afternoon.

A slightly familiar BMW pulls up in front of her and when the window rolls down a dirty looking Jason is in the passenger seat and Piper is behind the wheel, “Get in loser, we’re going hunting.” Twenty points to Piper for the double reference but she could do to work on her timing.

Cas looks down at her very much not dressed for battle self and sighs at least she’s in flats and her vest is under her shirt. She likes feeling prepared for random monster attacks even if they really aren’t common for her, “Are you taking me for a wardrobe change first?” She could make do but if possible sneakers and more flexible pants would be welcome.

“Cassie,” Can’t forget about Happy, “You know these guys.”

She looks over at an intimidating looking Happy (he’s trying anyway) and a Pepper with her phone frozen against her ear.

“Sorry, Ms. Potts,” It’s a work environment, “Duty calls.”

She opens the back door and is quick to close it behind her when she sees the two in the back because it would cause nothing but problems if the two mortals caught sight of the minors in the backseat. That those kids are actually Apollo and a badass child of Demeter would hardly be relevant in their eyes.

She tells Meg to duck before rolling down the window just a smidge, “I’ll keep the old man in the loop but this is an A-lister team so don’t worry.” It sort of is, even if Meg has questionable motivations and Apollo is only a part-time heavy hitter.

“Are you sure, Cassie?” Nope, not a bit Pepper.

“Absolutely.”

Happy steps closer though, “How’d they get past the security gate?” Cas cuts a glance as Piper who just shrugs because what can you do? Sometimes demigods have to go places that they don’t technically have permission to go to.

“Demigods are resourceful.” Is all she says, “See you soon.” And then the window rolls up and Piper pulls the car away. Actually, “Who’s car is this?” She’s not a BMW person per say but it’s definitely valuable.

There’s a chorus of “Piper’s neighbor’s.” One mystery solved.

“So first,” She turns to Meg and Apollo, “Hi again,” they respond but she’s already addressing the rest of the car, “What happened that required you to traumatize my mortals?” And then she smacks the back of Jason’s head just to remind him that she’s still annoyed. It’s unlikely that this won’t end with a second mortal intervention at this point because her father knows about the zombie-emperors. The joys of coming clean to one's newly claimed family (?) about part of the past….

Jason starts explaining the previous days to her, “The cohorts moved successfully to occupy the Labyrinth-that was unexpected-but Hazel had someone go topside to call me because Medea led an attack on their forces.” Cas is not offended that they went to everyone else first. Going to a heavy hitter like Jason when Hazel needed more power makes more sense than calling her and bringing in a charmspeaker against Medea also makes sense but...

Medea, the Princess of Colchis? That Medea? “Didn’t Piper kill her already?”

“No,” Piper tightens her grip on the steering wheel and Cas hopes that she doesn’t dent it since this is a borrowed vehicle, “My mother told me she’d be back but I hoped it would take more time than this.” Story of their lives. “Hazel crushed her and her sun dragons after I helped distract her but not before she monologued.” It’s always so nice when the villains tell them what they need to know.

It’s at this point that Apollo takes over the story, “It was convenient timing too because I just discovered the identity of the last emperor,” Don’t leave her in suspense now, “It’s Caligula and according to Medea we need his shoes to reach the Oracle in the ‘Burning Maze.’” Cas can feel the extra quotation marks in that statement.

That works out perfectly then. If they can do all of that within three days then once they set the Oracle free the legionnaires can return to New Rome in time to help defend it. Thank the gods that they have open lines of communication because this level of coordination would be impossible without it.

Well, since everyone else had some major news to drop on Cas she turns to Meg next, “Do you have anything Earth shattering to tell me?”

She fiddles with her shirt and Cas realizes that she may have been a bit harsh but what in Hades is going on in the world right now? 

“I can summon giant plants with seeds instead of just Peaches.”

Wonderful. Actually combined with her sword work that’s really awesome.

“That’s an awesome power Sunflower and I’m very glad you’re on the team,” She fixed it, “Okay, why is the maze burning?”

She makes eye contact with Piper in the rearview mirror, “Medea plus sun dragons equals?”

Huh? Well, she was carried to Athens on a chariot pulled by sun dragons but what does that have to do with anything?

Wait…. “Helios? I thought he was scattered further than Kronos was.” She looks to Apollo because Cas doesn’t want to fight the sun titan in fact she doesn’t even think she’d be very helpful in that fight.

“He was,” Oh no, “From what’s been described he was partially summoned back by Medea for Caligula who styles himself as some new sun god. Unfortunately, that role is already filled by me.” Ha. Not if he kills squishy Apollo, “Without Medea, he won’t be able to take Helios’s power,” Helios is Medea’s grandfather! Gods, they have some crazy families in ancient Greece. Cas herself is from an interesting line on her mother’s side. “But Helios is unlikely to dissipate back into Chaos either.”

Right, he can stay down there for now. That’s a later problem. Preferably not even her problem. “Where are we going now?” Eyes forward on the goal and not backwards on events she can no longer affect.

“Santa Barbara,” Is helpfully chorused through the car. Jason answers her unspoken follow up question, “According to the Sybil,” He shrinks in on himself a little bit at the reminder of his attempt to fly solo with no back up, “Caligula’s Palace stops near Stearns Wharf sometimes.” He did build a giant ship back in his day.

Huh.

History fact check. Caligula is infamous for many reasons, his paranoia, his attachment to his sister, and his weird trust in his horse. He did in fact try to get the empire to worship him as a sun god. However, it should be noted that history shows he is a petty bitch. Some hack of a soothsayer said Caligula had a better chance riding a horse across a bay than he did of becoming emperor. Well, this guy built a pontoon bridge across the bay so that he could ride that horse across it. In Cas’s mind this doesn’t honor the spirit of the challenge but it shows Caligula is a petty and spiteful bastard.

And the horse? Supposedly, and that’s a big supposedly, the horse was nearly made a consul which would have been a big deal since it’s the highest (?) elected office in ancient Rome. The horse, Incitatus, was reportedly fed gold flakes in his oats and made a priest. Cas has no idea if this is true or not but if it is she hopes it was to insult the senate with the jab that a horse could do their job and not because he genuinely believed it was a good idea. That would be an actual act of insanity.

“How much do you want to bet that he pulls up tonight?” No one takes it because it’s a suckers bet. They’re demigods and this is the way it works. Odds are that he’s transporting his forces for the invasion of New Rome which means Cas needs to blow up a boat again….only this time she lacks a detailed plan and explosives. 

“Yeah,” Jason says heavily, there’s more to follow on that statement, “When I scouted, he wasn’t there. I guess the Sibyl meant I’d find him at Stearns Wharf when I was supposed to find him. Which, I guess, is today.” Of course it is, the gang’s all here. Then Jason opens his mouth and speaks more, “Speaking of the Sibyl,” He totally got a death prophecy, “She said that if Piper and I went to face Caligula then one of us would die.”

She blinks but reflexively grabs the handle over the door when Piper hits the breaks and swings an arm in front of Meg so she doesn’t go flying. Apollo is not so lucky and slams into the back of Piper’s seat.

Since Piper is taking a moment to collect herself and Apollo and Meg are laying low, Cas seeks some enlightenment. “Exact words. Now.”

“She said ‘If you seek out the emperor, one of you will ___. Three letters, starts with D.’”

Now Cas knows why the emperors went through so much trouble to get Piper here. This will completely throw them off of their game if they truly believe one of them is about to die.

Word puzzles. This genius automatically filled in the blank with ‘die’ and resigned himself to his fate because there’s no way he’ll let Piper die. Unfortunately, he failed to seek out all of the possible interpretations available.

That’s fine. It’s why she’s here. Cas remembers the Great Prophecy and reassuring Percy after he read it. ‘The hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap’ is a super heavy line which clearly implied Percy was going to die. However, the hero was Luke in the end and Percy lived. She shall do the same here because so much of prophecy is interpretation during and after the fact. They’re great hints for when the heroes are stuck but Cas has never found it wise to chase and dig into every line.

For Jason though she will, “So you decided this meant that you’re going to die when we face Caligula?” He opens his mouth to defend his reasonings but she cuts him off, “For one, there’s plenty of three letter words that start with D. Dye with a ‘y’ comes to mind so maybe you’ll destroy the emperor’s food stores on his boat and stain something.”

“That’s ridiculous, Cas.” It’s still better than immediately jumping into that martyr seat.

She’s not even at the best part, “Okay, well did it occur to you that the Oracle-”

“Herophile,” Apollo cuts in, “Her name is Herophile.” 

Wow, that’s unexpected. Apollo has learned even more respect for humanity since she last saw him, “Sorry, did it occur to you that Herophile could’ve meant that Caligula is the one who would die?”

Piper eases the car back onto the road and continues driving. Hopefully Cas’s logic helped a bit with her concerns but she has to be so ready to destroy Jason right now. It doesn’t sound like he was originally planning to tell them and it’s bringing back Cas’s mindset from when her father was dying. That’s still a very recent event for her.

But content that she’s opened their minds to the possibility of not dying, Cas sits back in the car and lets them have their argument.

“Does that mean you’re not mad?” Stupid question Jason.

“I’m furious.” He intentionally withheld information regarding her life. Piper’s justified.

“Oh.”

“Furious, but also empathetic.” Because Piper is very reasonable.

“Right.” 

Looking between them Cas is struck by the easy camaraderie they share. It’s weird though because while they are close, like Piper said, their coexistence isn’t at all similar to Annabeth and Percy. Maybe it’s the amount of time they’ve known each other or maybe they just aren’t compatible. She wishes she could help but she’s tapped out her available advice on that front.

“Okay,” Piper has initiated plan mode, “Then we go to the wharf. We find this boat. We find Caligula’s magical booties, and we kill him if we get the chance. But we don’t let each other die.”

Cas can totally get behind this plan in fact these are her goals for the next several hours with greater emphasis on Caligula’s demise. This guy needs to go down.

“Or let me die,” Meg says and it hurts Cas a bit because the girl didn’t realize that she was already included. There’s no point in telling her though because that’s something that needs to be demonstrated not told, “Or even Apollo.” That gets an aborted laugh out of her though. She likes this little girl.

“Thank you, Meg,” Yes, thank you Sunflower, some levity was needed, “My heart is as warm as a partially thawed burrito.” And that came out of the mouth of the god of poetry.

“No problem. How do we know which is the right boat?” Meg is definitely speaking more than the last time Cas saw her but to be fair the girl had just arrived at Camp Half-Blood.

“Don’t worry,” Cas smiles, “I’ll find it. But it’s probably obvious since it’s Caligula.”

Meg looks at her weirdly, “How?”

“I’m a daughter of Nike, Sunflower,” Her brow furrows like Annabeth’s used to when Cas said her nickname, “I can’t grow plants but I know how to win and winning means getting the shoes ergo I can find them.” Not unlike how she found Happy on her first try at the Expo.

“That sounds useful.”

“It is.” She just has to know what her goal is and what she’s looking for then baring more powerful interference like the Labyrinth she can get there eventually.

The drive dissolved into smooth silence after that. It was like the Fates and Muses were setting the stage because the seaside highway was empty even as the brazen winter surfers ran along the beach. As the drive continues Cas tries to figure out why Caligula chose Santa Barbara because it is really close to the main entrance to the Underworld. It’s a little under two hours in good traffic which they happen to have right now.

Seems unnecessarily risky even if the buildings take some Roman inspiration but then again Cas isn't a zombie-emperor obsessed with pretty things and reliving the glory days of his rule. When they reach the fancy beach town Apollo just has to make some jinxable comments about trouble. She lets it go in favor of finding a small overpriced clothing store and outfitting herself in something a bit more flexible. She finds running pants, a Santa Barbara T-shirt, sneakers, and a backpack. She needs some place to put her clothes and stuff.

After she’s in shoes that won’t lead to a twisted ankle, Jason leads the way to the Wharf but nothing sticks out as malign or particularly Roman. The flyboy himself fails to find anything on the horizon….now that they’re here Cas is wishing Aqualad was too but he’s too far for Mrs. O’Leary to shadow jump in a reasonable amount of time. So with no evidence of emperors at the present time they fall back on the most basic of hero rules: eat and rest when you can.

The cafe they sit at has great fish tacos according to Apollo but Cas gleefully devours a chicken Caesar salad wrap instead. She wants to set the proper tone. It’s quiet as they sit there and the breeze goes by. Since it’s the offseason it’s not busy but there are mortals milling about their lives completely unaware of what’s going on around them. Another fight and they have no clue.

Must be nice.

She would almost call it peaceful until she gets a text.

_ What’s in Santa Barbara? _

Because her father has decided that tracking his twenty one year old demigod daughter is a good idea. Control Freak.

_ Never pegged you for a helicopter parent. _

She never pegged him as any type of parent but that’s beside the point. There’s another boundaries talk in the future.

_ With the suit I can be there in 15. _

It’s a nice offer but oh gods, she doesn’t need this in addition to Caligula.

_ ‘Iron Man blows up a tourist town’ sounds like a beautiful headline. _

There is no helpful way he can contribute at this point because they are trying to steal a magical item and hopefully take a shot at the wealthy zombie.

_ Will something blow up? _

The potential is there but Cas would rather sink the ship than actually blow it up because there’s a fair amount of people here.

_ This is a stealth thing on water, not a job for Iron Man. _

His suit doesn’t have underwater capabilities so it’s not like he can do a subtle approach. And this is probably on the water anyway since they don’t exactly know where Caligula is or when he’s arriving.

_ A stealth thing? _

For the love of….she doesn't have time for this distraction.

_ This is a demigod matter and it’s being handled. Talk later. _

She switches her phone off like she should have done before. There’s totally another mortal intervention in her future but what are they going to do? Call the cops? Is there a procedure for zombie Romans? She must have missed that episode of Law and Order.

“There’s an actual plan, right?” Cas tunes back in to see Jason speaking at Apollo.

A little late for Jason to be expressing his concerns about this but at least he’s realized there’s a need for one. They’ve been waiting and he has been scouting, if Caligula were already here then they would have come up with something by now.

“Mostly we’ve been going for it and making it up when we get there.” Thank you, Leo and Calypso for whatever adventures Apollo got up to in Indiana and thank you to whoever helped him get to this table. She doesn’t actually know what they were doing for the last two days. However, some foresight would have been a wonderful human lesson to give him.

She’s here for a reason though, “He’s on a ship. So the plan will be to disable it, find the mystical footwear, and stab Caligula if possible.” It’s simple, succinct, and the best she can come up with because she doesn’t know the layout of the vessel in question.

Piper finds this funny for some reason, “I’m very reassured. Thank you, great Strategos.” She glares because Piper is right but Cas doesn’t have anything better right now.

“Can we definitely stab Caligula?” Okay, Meg is going to need some help later on. She has issues that no one at this table is prepared to address but for now she lets Jason take a crack at it.

“We will if we can but we need those shoes first. Your quest is to rescue the Sibyl and I’d prefer that none of us face Caligula today.” That makes sense. No need to worry about the prophecy if he doesn’t face Caligula at all. If she can that’s the route that she’ll aim for. This really is going to be a stealth mission. __

It’s as the sun is setting that the ship emerges from the glare. Obviously, because how else could an emperor sail up to the wharf? Jason calls out that he’s spotted it to but it’s hard to miss now that it’s there. The monstrosity is easily five decks of unnecessary space that even had two helicopters and a submarine. That’s not ostentatious. 

No, what’s ostentatious is that well over a dozen of them sail in from the sunset. This isn’t a cruise ship packing a vanguard. This is an armada.

“No way.” Piper says as she tries to rub and blink the image away, “This has to be an illusion.”

“It’s not.” Apollo says. Right. Modern pontoon bridge of yachts. Apollo provides the class with a brief lesson on the pettiness of Caligula and the Bay of Baiae. Cas doesn’t listen because she knows this story and she’s far too distracted by the mortals assisting with the procession much to Meg’s horror. Evidently, Caligula is even more over the top than Nero.

She needs to find Caligula and his magic shoes in all of that, hopefully without killing mortals that don’t know any better and without letting Jason or Piper sacrifice themselves. These ships are also carrying their enemies North so they need to disable as many as possible. There’s still Commodus and whatever else the Triumvirate has planned so whatever fighters that they can pull away from New Rome the better.

On the way to the shore, Apollo suggests that they attack the middle of the chain first but once the sun is down spotlights illuminate the surf. Sneaking in will be very difficult but they want the ships to stay here at the very least.

“Hey Meg.”

“What?”

“Can you grow seaweed?” It is a plant.

“I don’t think so,” Damn, “Why?”

“The ships can’t move if the rudders are disabled. It buys time.” In theory they have three days but the moment that they move or give away their position they lose the advantage. A large scale battle here would definitely turn the wrong heads and draw mortal attention, especially since there are mortals working for Caligula. The only reason stealth is still a possibility is because of the fighting going on in the Labyrinth drawing the eye of Sauron away from them.

She looks thoughtful for a moment, “I’ve never done it but I can try.” Cas waves her off because she doesn’t like to base plans on ‘I can try’ nor does she want to put that on a literal child. The only reason Cas hasn’t given anyone problems about Meg’s continued presence is that she knows the girl can handle herself and this directly involves her. She’s still keeping a close watch though. 

“How can he still have so many with the Legion presence in the Labyrinth?” Jason is still dumbfounded by the sheer number of ships and so is she. By Cas’s count there are easily thirty in the formation but some are blocked from view so there are possibly more.

True statement but, “We don’t know how many would be here if the Romans hadn’t taken the Labyrinth.” Cas is struck by a thought, “I wish I could call my dad in on this. Iron Man could wreck these ships easily.” Even though she just shot down his offer for help it would be nice. They could always fish the shoes out of the wreck later. Not that he could fire on the yachts since there are actual human patrols.

Meg looks awestruck, “You’re dad is Iron Man.”

Surprisingly it’s Apollo who shoots that one down, “He would escalate this beyond our control and he would draw more mortals in too.” Yeah, can’t have that either. “I would suggest we move quickly as Strixes come out after dark.” She sighs even as Apollo explains to Piper and Jason about his and Megs previous encounter with blood sucking birds that also like human flesh. The best part is that, just like Arai, they come with a nifty curse if killed. Gods, they do not need the mortals getting wise to what’s going on here.

“Right, Piper, call us a ride. Meg can’t pull it off but the rest of us should pass for one of them with the right uniform.” Piper heads closer to wave a dinghy over.

She’s moderately concerned when Meg easily suggests that they kill the people in the boat and, even though Apollo corrects her, Cas makes a note to find someone to educate Meg on demigod rules. This is a direct attack on the enemy but they should still at least try to avoid killing the stupid mortals. 

Their ragtag team stays back while Piper charms the heavily armed riot officers out of their boat and their gear with nothing more than a wad of cash and the promise of dinner. It’s always a genuine pleasure to watch Piper jedi mind trick their enemies. The moment they turn to head up the peer Cas is on them.

Carefully, of course, they’re still mortals. But they’re mortals up against a demigod who’s been fighting since she could run so it’s quick and one sided. “Who’s got the duct tape?” Cas is not shocked when Meg provides. They could have let these three go to the cafe and enjoy fish tacos but when the charmspeak wears off they would come and flag down another boat. That can’t happen.

So they-meaning Meg, Apollo, and Cas- restrain their victims while Jason helps Piper because groups are harder for her to trick. Cas hands the cash back to Piper because they aren’t paying these men for their trouble, they should know better than to work for megalomaniacs. She does however hide her backpack under the peer because it isn’t carrying anything useful at the moment. Once they get the boat in the water they throw the helmets and riot gear on over their clothes. The guns go in the water because they don’t know how to use them anyway. They’ll pass from a distance and they can hide Meg from the spotlights fairly easily and if not Piper can talk them out of it.

Jason was the only one who fit in the Kevlar comfortably but there’s nothing else for it. They only need it for a cursory glance. She goes back to focusing on the ships because one of them has what she needs on in it. The shoes are the priority.

Piper shines the spotlight on the name of one of the vessels and Cas cringes.

IVLIA DRVSILLA XIII

Julia Drusilla, Caligula’s favored sister, who was always by his side and at his table even after he got her first marriage annulled and remarried her to one of his ‘friends.’ All of these ships are named after Julia Drusilla. The sister who died at twenty two years old and left Caligula so despondent that he was compared to a widower after her funeral.

“Hey Apollo, Julia and Caligula….there are suggestions but did they…?” She doesn’t want to say it out loud because there’s a child with them but the other three catch on. Jason and Piper gag but thankfully Apollo gives the correct answer.

“No, he smothered her life though. It’s likely why she got sick.” Gods, that’s still disturbing.

Wait...All of the ships? 

_ Look closer.  _ Julia Drusilla and a number. Well, one number is more significant than all of the others for the dead woman’s life.

“Gotcha,” The possessive wackjob would keep his most important treasures on the ship closest to his most important ‘treasure’ “We need twenty two.” Jason and Piper nod and get to searching without asking questions even as Meg looks confused.

“That sort of morbid obsession lines up with Caligula.” Apollo follows her logic though, “Julia died when she was twenty two.” He explains to Meg.

It takes them more than a few minutes to find it because the ships aren’t exactly in order and she hopes that it drives the zombie nuts that his perfect formation isn’t so perfect. The anticipation and dread is building in Cas as they slide up next to the IVLIA DRVSILLA XXII. There will be a fight very soon.


	15. The Caligae Heist

“Expect immediate problems,” Cas says to Jason as Piper wraps her arms around his neck so that he can fly them both up. She hands her spear to him so she can be there instantly.

“I can talk them down.” Piper says and the problem with that plan is that Caligula knows Piper and Jason will be confronting him. He’s the reason that Piper is in California so they can’t get complacent. When the opposition has time to plan assume they have countermeasures in place for any and all abilities. 

“Don’t assume that’ll always work,” She focuses back on Jason, “Throw it the moment you see an enemy. Do. Not. Hesitate.”

Their plan is simple because it was made fast. They do not know the layout of the ship. They only know that what they want is probably located somewhere within its multiple decks. Cas is running under the assumption that if Caligula isn’t also on this ship he’s on the adjacent ones because he can’t be willing to leave such an important object out of reach. The others agree.

This means that once they get everyone on deck they’ll sweep the ship together because this isn’t Scooby Doo and these guys have guns. Meg flexes her fingers with her sword rings and Apollo fiddles with his quiver and bow looking as ready as they can be.

The moment that Jason pases over the deck railing Cas warps to her spear and she is so glad that she did. There are humanoid beings with massive furry ears and extra fingers on their furry hands leveling bows at their chests. Like Cas told Jason, she doesn’t hesitate.

She moves.

A note on Cas’s beloved weapon: when Cas first met Thalia Grace, she judged Cas for her spear. Hers is all long reaching with the power of lightning, while Cas’s is only about three and a half feet in length one third of which is the steel and celestial bronze blade. It was a king’s weapon reliant on skill and speed and she’d been surprised to be gifted with it. The daughter of Zeus didn’t know that, she just thought it was short. Then Cas knocked her ass to the ground before she had a chance to get a shot in. That particular plan only worked the one time but the point stands, skill and speed can beat raw power.

Cas’s spear is designed for closing distance, controlling positioning during a battle, and cutting into her opponent's space. It’s a fast weapon for the fastest demigod. If Thalia had landed one solid blow it would have knocked her down for the count, instead she couldn’t hit her because Cas moved too much. This is important because the elephant ears are limited by their bows since their swords remain sheathed at their sides.

So when one calls for them to surrender and be “nice little prisoners.” Well...he doesn’t get to finish talking before Cas has her spear in his compatriot’s throat. Her speed surprised them and the other three back up and aim at her which is all the invitation Jason needs to charge.

Cas rotates and feels one arrow fly by but another hits the Kevlar which knocks the wind out of her. She’s not impaled so at least it came in handy. By now, Jason’s put his sword through another one so there are only two left but where did the other one go?

There! 

And it’s….cowering. Yikes.

She ignores that for now and hurls her spear at the last elephant ear’s feet so that she comes up rolling behind him and quickly reduces him to dust.

The last one is still fumbling with his sword and holding it wrong….

She can’t kill this thing….Gods, she’s soft.

But maybe he can tell them where to go before he’s sent to tartarus because Meg is unlikely to have Cas’s reservations.

“Jason, grab Apollo and Meg. We don’t know if they’ve been spotted.” He waits for Piper to agree before jumping over board and Cas rolls her eyes. She just told him not to hesitate.

Piper turns her attention to the scared elephant on the deck who’s just dropped his sword and raised his eight fingered hands. “Did you say Apollo? Like the music god?” His ears twitch curiously and Cas notes that he’s considerably lighter in color than the ones that they dusted. Younger perhaps?

“Eager for a prize from your emperor?” Piper snarks but she has a point. These guys probably heard them with those ears but they never used names so who they are would be a surprise.

Cas is surprised by what he says next, “I like music.” 

She blinks and then focuses again because she’s getting a ‘don’t stab this one’ vibe which is new but she keeps her spear up anyway even as Jason hauls Meg and Apollo onto the deck. Jason snags Meg by the back of her shirt when she tries to charge but Apollo walks right on up to their prisoner(?) while radiating curiosity. Maybe Apollo is vibing with the elephant ear’s musical aura or something….

“You’re a pandos,” He says and Piper mouths ‘Panda’ at her and Jason but they just shrug. She’s never heard of them but she can’t be expected to know every monster. There’s a lot of them in existence, “Dionysus found your kind in India. What are you doing here?” That’s a hell of a commute. India is still polytheistic in places so in theory their mythos would pop up there. Although immigration is fair play so that could happen. However, she doesn’t know why they’d want to come here since they have a tyrant infestation.

“I work-” He casts a nervous glance at one of the dust piles, “worked for my uncle Amax.” Not anymore, “But I don’t want to because I like guitar.” And now they aren’t going to be allowed to touch him if she’s reading Apollo’s face right.

Wonderful, the former god has turned into a soft heart for a struggling musician's sob story. Cas doesn’t feel threatened by this guy though so she lets this happen even though they’re in a bit of a tricky situation. They don’t know if their cover is blown or not yet.

“That’s very interesting…,” Apollo trails off.

“Crest.” Not the strangest monster name she’s ever heard.

“Crest, I’d be happy to give you some lessons if you answer some questions for me.” Cas looks sharply at the others in the group. Their faces offer no answers to Apollo’s unexpected deal making abilities but she’ll take it. It’s better than running around the ship and hoping things go their way because that never actually works without some kind of major setback or injury.

“I don’t know a lot,” Damn, “The others don’t like me because I don’t like fighting.” Oh gods, at least they lucked out and found the one nonaggressive pandos in the armada. He’s got to know something useful.

“That’s okay, do the other pandai know we’re here?” An important question. Cas doesn’t see any signs of alarm and there’s some light music trickling onto the deck from an open door. It’s not exactly a chase theme but she’s been misled before.

“No, my uncle wanted to capture the intruders to prove to Caligula that he’s a better fighter than the others.” That didn’t work out for him, “Since Medea is dead Caligula's been looking for better guards to keep close.” Thank you, Hazel, “And we’re understaffed from the Roman incursion anyway so there aren’t many of us here.” Oh, well she is so glad she convinced Frank and Reyna to send those cohorts out now. This little pandos is giving over nothing but good news.

Yay. She removes the stupid helmet she has on and tosses it overboard. It was useless anyway and even though it drowns her, she shoves Meg into the Kevlar. Cas has her own armor layer so the shorty should have some too.

“Good for the Romans,” Apollo says, “Next question and then we make plans for your first lessons, where on this ship are Caligula’s shoes?”

“They’re in the treasure room on the third deck,” Up it is then. Thank you, Crest. “Can I come with you?” Nope.

“Of course,” Dammit Apollo, “I understand what it is to be a struggling artist with no support system.” He’s a god….whatever.

She exchanges a glance with her fellow demigods on deck and they all silently agree to stab Crest if he turns on them. For now a guide is worth the risk since they don’t know anything about the layout of the ship. Crest moves to lead them to the upper decks and Cas is very grateful because while that fight wasn’t bad the jump from the water to the deck was pretty far and she needs to catch her breath a bit. She’d rather walk then spear travel up the ship.

“I missed the fight.” Meg says.

“Don’t worry,” And no Cas will not jinx them, “We can spar once we’ve finished up here. I want to see what you can do with those swords of yours.” Typically, children of Demeter aren’t all that aggressive but Meg is clearly against those stereotypes.

Meg gives her a firm nod but Jason, “Cas, you can’t fight a twelve year old.”

Huh? Why not? “It’s just a spar.” The kid’ll be fine.

Piper sighs, “Cas with you a spar is not just a spar.” Guilty, but Meg is wicked fast with those swords from what she saw back in December. “Offer a lesson or something.”

Nah. Cas pulls a face at Meg and shakes her head. It earns her a small smile from the less than sunny sunflower so she’ll take it. 

Crest leads them through winding back hallways and stairs with his ears constantly twitching at every little noise and she wonders what he can hear. Hopefully, he’s leading them around the bad guys and not into a trap but so far she’s not feeling anything to suggest this is working against her goals. If anything she feels more confident about their presence here.

She wishes that she could say that these halls made any sense but it honestly looks like some sort of an elaborate mansion complete with golden sconces and crystal chandeliers. It’s the gross kind of wealth instead of the open modern spaces she’s gotten used to around her father. And that is really weird to think about. Cas got used to being around money and to her this is just tacky. Silena would be proud of her judgement.

Their party is led through an ornate oak door with golden door knobs just in case people forgot the owner could purchase a country if he so chose. On the other side is what she can only think of as a shrine to footwear. Looks like someone has a complex about feet but with a name like Caligula it’s to be expected. There’s even some Air Jordans on display and Cas doesn’t exactly picture the zombie emperors taking a day to shoot some hoops.

“How many shoes does this guy need?” Excellent question Jason.

“All of the shoes, Sparky.” Good to see Piper is always ready with an answer to life’s great questions.

Cas’s eye is caught by a garish red, “Are those actual ruby encrusted slippers?”

“And we’re not even in Kansas.” Apollo doesn’t seem surprised by the opulence around him so Cas assumes that this is simply very Caligula.

Crest continues to the middle of the room that’s lined with several more doorways on each side which she’s going to assume leads to even more shoes. This guy is nuts, “I know they’re here somewhere but I don’t know which room.” The pandos has no more information for them.

She begins to walk around to try and get an idea of where to go next while Apollo addresses his new follower, “That’s alright. When we get out of here we shall begin your first lesson of ‘Smoke on the Water’” Huh, that really is the first song people learn. “I’ll have you playing like Jimmy Hendrix in no time.” That’s a very high bar in her opinion but whatever.

The others are wandering the space hoping to find Caligula’s Oracle unlocking shoes but intuition leads her down four doors on the right. She passes some really questionable looking boots on the way there.

“This way people,” She hopes this isn’t a trap. Doesn’t feel like a trap, “What kind of shoes are we looking for because I doubt I can intuit us any closer.” She’s not going to see a glowing aura around them that announces them as the solution to all of their problems.

“Remember that scene in the Last Crusade with all of the challaces?” Piper says. Yes, because it’s the best Indian Jones movie.

“No,” Meg on the other hand probably hasn’t seen it.

Jason gets where Piper is going with this, “Cup of a carpenter so shoes of an emperor then.”

“Something from the empire era?” Makes sense in Cas’s eye.

“Caligula’s caligae. Legionnaire’s shoes.” Apollo nods in agreement and they all fan out in the shoe closet the size of a modest studio apartment. Some of the shoes are magic in nature with labels like ‘Guarantees Good Dreams’ so Cas assumes they’ve come to the right place. Then Meg hits the jackpot.

“These look different.” She’s pointing at what could be a pair of casually discarded sandals but in Cas’s eyes they fit the bill. When Apollo swoops in to pick them up she sees how aged and worn down they are but still maintained. They’re clearly highly valued even if they lack a display case.

“These are it.” Apollo says but then their guide stiffens.

“We need to leave!” This is the part where the bad guy crashes the party, isn’t it? “He’s coming.” Of course, he is. He being Caligula because who else?

She was hoping to sneak out the way they came in but, “I don’t suppose you have shortcuts to the lifeboats and/or the engine room, do you?” It’s eleventh hour demigod plan time. She kind of wishes that she kept her phone with her because calling Iron Man to evac a lifeboat is a reasonable idea. Hindsight and all that.

“Cassie?” Piper sounds alarmed at her words and she probably should be. She knows the Princess Andromeda story while Jason and Meg do not. Apparently Apollo does though judging from his alarmed face. It’s probably a fun story for the gods to tell as they brag about their children fighting and dying to save the world.

“It’ll be fine, Princess,” She hopes. It makes Piper glare at her because she hates that nickname but, “None of us are dying today.” Cas needs Piper focused on getting those booties out of here not on her half formed plans. She’s never designed a ship engine before but she’s designed jet engines and they both run on flammable fluid, she can make do.

Caligula is dying today, not Jason or Piper.

“I know how to get to the lifeboats and the engine room is on the lowest level.” Very helpful, Crest. Not detailed for her end but it’s definitely helpful.

“Perfect,” Plan time. Before Cas had a thought about how this isn’t Scooby Doo and splitting up on a large ship where there may be armed mercenaries was a stupid idea. Times change, “Crest, take Apollo, Meg, and Piper to the lifeboats. Shoes go with you guys. Jason, you’re with me as the exit strategy and muscular lightning boy.”

“I don’t like this plan.” Thank you Meg, your opinion has been noted and ignored.

“Too bad,” Cas pins the girl with a look, “I am trusting you to protect them, got it?” The girl only nods in response. She’ll apologize later during that spar because there will be a later and there will be a spar. She’s a child of Nike and she doesn’t lose.

“Piper,” And Cas really doesn’t want to argue with her. They don't have time, “My backpack should still be under the peer. Use my phone to call my dad and then drive.” The bleeding heart will come and give them cover if they need it.

Piper stares defiantly at her before turning away from them both with nothing more than a, “Don’t die,” tossed over her shoulder. She understands the need to prioritize the shoes.

Apollo is, shock of shocks, the last one to leave or maybe it’s not so surprising and he really has kicked that Olympian apathy that Cas came to terms with years ago, “We’ll see you on the shore.”

Jason nods, “Apollo, don’t forget what you learned here.” Cas closes her eyes because she can feel the dread coursing through her body building every second they wait. This is going to come to a head very soon like when the Colossus Neronis shattered the barrier around Camp Half-Blood. Jason thinks that he’s going to die and Cas will not let that happen. She won’t mourn another friend.

Crest is knowledgeable enough to point them down a different unnecessarily large and gilded hallway, “There are stairs down that way.” He’s helpful so she’s glad she didn’t send him to tartarus. Crest is another example of a friendly monster like Ella, Tyson, or the Ophiotaurus. 

The halls are wide enough for Jason and Cas to jog side by side comfortably and easily find the previously mentioned stairs, “Thanks for getting Piper out of here.” With Crest they have the best chance of evading notice long enough to slip away and hopefully contact some back up if they need it.

“This was the best plan to secure the shoes.” That’s all.

“And had nothing to do with getting the fallen god, Piper, and a little girl out of the direct line of fire.”

“Shut up, boy scout.”

Their trust in Crest is proven well placed when they find a marble staircase heading down and neither of them waste any time jumping over the banisters. The fall’s only twenty-ish feet per level and she falls more than that during her uneven bar dismounts. Jason can fly so it doesn’t count since he can slow his landing.

They’ve made it to what she assumes is the first sublevel when an alarm starts blaring out of some speakers.

_ “Alert! Intruders on board! Capture alive!”  _ On repeat very loudly.

Shit. The noise levels…

“It’s going to be mortals after us,” She says as she hits the bottom of the stairs.

Jason doesn’t catch on right away, “How do you know?” He’s nearly shouting over the grating alarm.

“The pandai heard us from a dinghy. This is too loud for them. Meaning mortals with guns.” Gods, this sucks big time. The level they’ve reached is promising because while it’s marble still there are no grape vines or masterpieces carved into the walls. Why put art where only the servants are going to see it?

“Di immortales,” Sounds about right, “You don’t have a vest.”

Ha.

“I got a really good Christmas present.” She hopes because this is not the kind of environment she wanted to test it on but she’s never taken things slow before and she’s never started small. There’s no reason to change that now. A suspiciously plain door leads them to a frigidly white room that sort of looks like the set of a Bond villain lair or a space station. Could be either one.

Hello, engine room. 

Okay, so they don’t know if the others have gotten out or not. What she does know is that Caligula and his guards are unlikely to suspect that Jason and Cas ran deeper into the ship. Therefore, in theory she has some time to work here. “Let’s face my opponent.”

There’s an art to causing slightly delayed catastrophic engine failure. It’s not as easy as cutting the gas line and having Jason spark it. This floating monument to garishness runs on diesel which only ignites under high pressure or a sustained flame. She can’t count on either of those under normal circumstances. She can however screw with the boiler so that the pressure builds up and that explodes.

Yay.

“How long will we have to get out of here?” Jason doesn’t hover or watch her progress because after working with her and Leo it’s second nature to guard the back of the crazy engineer. 

Uh…. “Maybe fifteen minutes but I’d call ten just to be safe. I want us flown way out of the coup before volcano day.” It won’t take out the whole ship instantaneously because she doesn’t want to kill anyone except Caligula. However, it will put a very large hole in the hull and probably set it and the surrounding area on fire. 

The explosion will likely have enough pressure to ignite all of this diesel in a steady burn. So, provided the mortals have a smidgen of cerebrum they’ll make it off. If they don’t then it’s not her fault that they’re slow. This is an open live fire combat situation against forces with plans to attack New Rome. She’s allowed to defend herself with the available materials and it just so happens that the available materials can go boom in her care.

Go science.

“Done, let’s go.” She doesn’t have a watch or anything on but that probably took her twelve minutes maximum and the trip down here was maybe five. Provided that Cas’s mother is with them, the other team could be on their way to shore right now.

“Good, let's find a window.” Yeah, the problem with that is they have to make it up three floors and to the edge of the ship to do that. With the way the stairs are centralized one might think Caligula doesn’t want anyone in his engine room.

Rude.

They don’t bother trying to be quiet as they run up the stairs. The alarm is still blaring anyway.

One.

Two. 

Three flights of stairs and then they hit the door running prepared to charge through anything in their way because neither of them really want to use up their ten minutes. She honestly thought that they were going to make it too but they are demigods. How could they leave without confronting the big bad?

There standing in the middle of the hallway thankfully in the opposite direction of where they want to go is a rider on a pale bejeweled horse. The rider is flanked by guards in full praetorian regalia yet armed with assault rifles and though harsh in appearance, he looks every bit the youthful emperor that he is not. Which is creepy because Cas knows he’s a zombie even though he’s dressed like a tacky naval captain complete with an anchor pin on his silly hat. 

Why are they always insane?

“Perfect timing!” His smile is just a little too inhuman and other, “I’ve been hunting for my missing shoes. Perhaps you have them.” Thank the gods, Piper and the others must have gotten away.

Ordinarily, Cas prefers the route of not angering the enemy when they have the advantage like this. She prefers the distract approach which is closely related to the ‘keep them talking’ method of buying time. However, there’s still a prophecy hanging over Jason’s head which, whether she likes it or not, places him in the line of fire. They also don’t have time for the monologue, chit chat, and torture threats. They’re kind of on the clock.

“Are they small? Because I saw some baby booties down that way.” She casually points down the hallway that they just ran from and her jab is super effective.

“You little bitch,” Ha. Yeah, she is. This guy is easy. Even his ears are red. Beside him his guards tighten their grip on their weapons and Jason hisses beside Cas that she should shut up. Nah. There’s no fun in silently taunting death, “Where is Apollo? He should be here.”

She’s just stomping on all of the plans recently, isn’t she?

“Look Little Foot, it’s night time. Why would a sun god be here?” If she can just get him to charge they might have time to make it out using him as a bullet shield.

The creepy smile doesn’t drop though even as the very intelligent looking horse shifts beneath his grip. She wonders if it’s the real Incitatus.

“You are not important, girl,” Ouch, he might say she’s not even a footnote in this story, “Jason Grace! Tell me where that shriveled sun god is and you can leave.” 

Nope.

She can’t let this shift to Jason. He's just not as good at pissing people off as she, Percy, and Leo are, “Don’t listen to him, Jason. It’s clearly a rouse, men with microfeet are not to be trusted.”

“Cas!” Jason reaches out and grabs onto her wrist and hopefully onto her plan as well. It’s for the best because once they take off for the window that’s twenty feet away they need to stay close together.

That inhuman smile on Caligula’s face twists into something monstrous and wrong.

_ Unnatural!  _ Yeah, she got that.

He pulls harshly on the reins causing the horse to rear up on its hind legs which is a waste of time for him but as good as a green light for Cas who takes off in the opposite direction dragging Jason next to her. These sorts of vessels have safety glass so Cas throws her spear as hard and as straight as she can while running even with Jason. It shatters a large enough hole for them to make it through with minimal lacerations.

They’re going to make it.

This is going to work. 

Behind them Caligula bellows in anger.

And then the world slows to a crawl in her perception.

_ MOVE!MOVE!MOVE!  _ Her primary goal blares in her being louder than Caligula: No more dead kids.

Cas launches herself sideways and curls around Jason and it hurts! Together they go tumbling out the window free falling towards the water and it _hurts_ so much.

They’re both bleeding from the glass but she has no idea what hit her so hard that she can’t breath right.

“Hold on!” Jason yells. She also hears lightning but she’s still clinging to Jason through the pain because he’s her friend and he’s safe. “Tempest!” Why is the side of the ship green?

Gods, this hurts and she tastes blood and her breaths are becoming shallower which is never a good sign.

“Cassie!” Jason? “Come on! We’re almost there!” Almost where?

She feels a rush of heat and Jason swears (?) “Fuck!” That doesn’t sound like him.

She can’t let go yet….but she does….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3
> 
> Come back Saturday to see what happens next :)


	16. Busted (What is she ten?)

_ “....this way Cassandra” _

_ “...then I’ll be like Alexander?” _

_ “....one last test” _

_ “Elias….I don’t think I should do this….” _

_ “....like we practiced” _

_ RUN! _

Cas comes too and tries to lurch off of the ground she’s been laid on and screams because it  _ hurts _ ! 

“Cassie!”

“Cas!”

“...happened?”

“...jumped...spear.”

“Open her mouth!” Someone grabs her face and she tries to turn away but they’re too strong.

“Cassandra, look at me!” That’s Piper. It has to be. “You’re going to live! Eat the Ambrosia!” She swallows mechanically even as more is shoved down her throat by probably Piper. She obeys the commands to eat even more as they come while Piper tries to keep her alive with the force of her voice.

“Fly...hospital?”

“....be fine.”

“There’s blood!” Oops, that voice is familiar.

“Ambrosia...working…”

Some indescribable amount of time passes before Cas finds the will to attempt communication. She coughs, “Hurts…”

Piper’s face comes into focus over her, “I think you had a piece of a rib where it wasn’t supposed to be.”

She manages to turn her head to the side and spits out a messy glob of spit and blood, “Seems legit.” 

Piper pours water down her throat making her cough more but at least the blood taste is gone. Then she stuffs another Ambrosia square into Cas’s mouth.

“That armor you have on saved your life.” Ha. Her father saved her life. Cool. She’s making a lot of these vests but first….

“Impact distribution sucks…” She forces out because it still hurts to breath even if her lung is making its way back to full capacity. Blood in one of the pleural membranes is not a pleasant experience but thankfully they shoved Olympian food down her throat before it collapsed and she started suffocating. “Needs a shock layer.” Maybe a liquid?

“Yeah, but you survived a spear to back by Caligula and then you sunk his ship.” Eh. Win some, lose some. “Your dad’s here.”

Shit. She thought she heard him.

She tries to look around a bit. There’s sand beneath her fingers still so are they still in Santa Barbara? Because if so that’s a stupid idea. Piper puts a hand to her forehead to check her for a fever and given that Cas is beginning to feel warm she’s likely maxed out on Ambrosia for a while. It’s too bad that Sunshine isn’t here with his father because he could fix her ribs really fast. “Where are we?” It’s too dark for Cas to see much beyond Piper clearly.

“Twenty miles up the beach.” That should be far enough, “Jason flew you on Tempest.” She loves that wind spirit, “Your father flew the rest of us which was not as fun as you said it was.”

Ha. “Coward.”

“Idiot,” A wet drop hits her face and Cas realizes she’s committed a terrible crime. Piper’s crying and tough as nails Piper never cries, “What were you thinking?”

_ No more dead kids. _

“I wasn’t going to let Jason die.” She did promise to look after him.

“That doesn’t mean you jump in front of the blade instead!” Oh, Cas is in so much trouble. She needs to get off the ground before anyone becomes fussy.

She holds out her arm for Piper to leverage her up, “Get me out of the sand.” Piper rolls her eyes but obliges. The groan that wants to come out is held back through superior will power but that doesn’t stop the grimace from over taking her face. Ribs are the worst.

A stone’s throw away her father is arguing with Jason and Apollo while Meg tries to make herself smaller even as she openly gapes at the armor engulfing her father. This is it. This is where her relationship with her father ends. The demigod madness is going to be too much for him.

Cas keeps one arm wrapped around Piper’s shoulders and the other wrapped around her chest even if it’s nothing more than a placebo at this point. After a solid night’s sleep….maybe a couple of solid night’s sleep she'll be just fine. Benefits of three times the average demigod's metabolism, she can’t heal in the ocean like Percy or casually walk off an amputation like Paolo but her speed comes in handy. Until then, she can suck it up like Annabeth when she worked through that broken leg in Rome.

Ready to face the music, she pastes a triumphant grin on her face and says, “I hope you’re talking about me.”

The other three say something along the lines of ‘we’re so glad to see you standing’ but her focus remains on her father. There’s a minor flashback to the first time she saw the suit and wanted to touch it more than she was afraid of it. Right now she isn’t afraid of being hurt- been there done that- but she is very intimidated by the imposing figure and the less than happy look on her father’s face. The helmet is in his hands though so he’s not about to drop the faceplate and eliminate any chance she has of reading him.

“Welcome back to the land of the not dying.” He’s not very unhappy with her right now and she wonders just how much he’s pulled out of Jason and Apollo. Meg wouldn’t spill a thing even if Zeus himself demanded answers from her and Piper was busy keeping Cas out of Elysium.

“It was a sucky trip. -6/10, do not recommend.” Because if he’s about to kick her to the curb she’s not about to go with her head bowed.

He looks away first, “Next time, call before you set the imperial fleet on fire.”

Huh?

Next time?

“I’m not evicted?” She thought this was the moment where her being a demigod officially became too much. There’s a halfway written resignation letter in her brain right now all set to be emailed to Pepper.

Her father blinks in surprise and says, “You think I’d kick you out for fighting to save the world.”

It’s her turn to blink, “Yes? Because….” Because she almost got herself killed doing it….

Her father turns to look at Piper instead, “How long until that godly graham cracker fixes her?”

Piper laughs but does her best not to jostle Cas and her healing rib cage, “This is normal for her, Tony.”

Right, well then. Since she’s not homeless, “What happened while I was napping?” 

Apollo is still bard enough to leap into storyteller mode and regale his audience with his exploits of sneaking out of the ship with the shoes firmly in hand which he demonstrates by shaking them. Any guards that did get the drop on them were easy prey for Meg or convinced to take a dive by Piper. Their pandos friend was mostly able to lead them around without getting spotted until they made it to a lifeboat because they were guarded. 

Who would’ve thought? 

Meg is kind enough to interject with phrases like, “So I kicked him,” and “Apollo almost cried.” There is no way to know at this point if all of that is accurate so she’ll have to get the real story out of Piper later. Crest the Pandos is nowhere to be seen but they told her it’s because he’s decided to travel the world to find music….he probably changed his mind about having Apollo teach him. The god-child has his high moments of heroism and his low moments of….something. Meg can probably describe it well enough.

Jason takes over to explain how she got from the window to the beach which she really appreciates, “After I leveled us out, Caligula and his guards made it to the window. You weren’t responding so I panicked a bit and summoned a lightning bolt at them.” That’s one hell of a fight or flight response. Cas thought he had those under control by now, Percy hasn’t spontaneously exploded a water fixture since before the Battle of Manhattan, “I don’t think it killed Caligula but he definitely wasn’t moving for a while when the ship caught fire.” Joy, part of the plan worked.

“Do we know if he’s alive?” They may have gotten the shoes but Cas really wanted to send Caligula to Hades so it would be a shame if he limped away on his doll feet.

Her father answers this one with crossed arms that looks out of place with his armor, “Even if you didn’t rekill him, he’s not going anywhere for a long time. Seven of those ships caught fire so someone called the Coast Guard,” It was him, her father called the Coast Guard. She can tell, “And there were a lot of armed men around too so that escalated.” Oh no, did she cause a mortal firefight? “So I helped the Coast Guard deescalate it.” That’s smart.

Santa Barbara is near enough to Malibu that Tony Stark could wander in on a whim….or fly in.

A massive yawn cracks her jaw and suddenly all she can think about is how much she wants to go back to napping.

“Happy’s on the way.” Huh? “He’s bringing the car to fly the Fellowship back to LA.”

Fellowship, huh? “I’m totally Aragorn.” Apollo is Frodo and Meg is Sam.

She needs sleep.

Her father sighs, “Whatever you say, kid. Just don’t pull something like that again.”

Cas wishes that she could tell her father that. She wishes that she can say the words without it being a big blistering lie but she can’t, “No promises and you can’t say that either.” Her father is Iron Man and he has put himself in a whole lot of danger. She’s seen it.

It looks like her father is finally seeing the other side of what he puts Pepper through, “You’re going to turn me prematurely grey.”

Ha. If they’re okay to joke, “You’re already old, you’d just look the part more.” She smiles for real this time as he fake glares at her. Then her smile fades because she’s just realized, “Pepper is going to end me for this….”

Her father practically laughs in her face, “This is between you and her. Iron Man officially came to Santa Barbara because of the Coast Guard not because his daughter and her superfriends battled a dead man. But I did tell Pepper part of the truth.” Her father is a real hero to the people but a traitor to her.

It’s too late for her now. This must be some inhumane punishment for almost dying.

They settle in to wait for Happy so rather than sit and relax, Cas decides to test her mobility with deep breaths and slow arm rotations. She can almost fully inhale without serious pain but she definitely won’t be doing any floor routines for easily a week. Too bad, Jarvis has been helping her develop a new one after combing through hours of Olympic performances on YouTube.

Meg has fallen asleep against Jason while asking about Tempest which is such a precious image that Cas is quick to immortalize it after getting her phone back from Piper. Piper is resting against Jason’s back because she doesn’t want to sleep with her head in the sand so the boy in question is stuck sitting rigidly. He’ll be fine.

Apollo takes this opportunity to approach her since everyone else has calmed a level or two including her father who’s standing like he’s waiting for someone to storm the beaches. (It’s better than he was ten minutes ago.) “You told me back in Camp Half-Blood that if I wanted to take responsibility for Nero I should fix it.” She nods for him to continue, “This is not your problem but you’re the one who nearly died trying to fix it.”

Ah, so this is another round of guilty conscience, “We talked about volunteering too.”

He doesn’t look particularly reassured, “Did you hear about the Way Station in Indianapolis?” She shakes her head because she hasn’t, “It’s a place for demigods and monsters of all kinds to coexist peacefully while they figure out where to go next.” That sounds amazing, “And it was attacked when I led Commodus right to it.”

Oof. That’s rough.

She braces herself for bad news, “Is it still standing?”

Apollo sighs and she can see just a hint of that ancient power within him, the potential in that mortal teen body, “There were….losses but they’re rebuilding. Calypso chose to stay behind and help while we went West.” Good for Calypso, she found something for herself but that Way Station…

“I’ll help them.” There’s no reason not to when according to Apollo they represent a small scale version of what she’s aiming for. On his part, Apollo looks surprised, “I can see what’s coming next Lester. I’m a side character in your quest and the Romans already asked me to stay out of the New Moon invasion.” She grins at his dumbfounded expression, “When we get home, you’re all going to enjoy a well fed sleepover and tomorrow you can go with Meg to free Herophile from the zombie free maze.” Plus, she’s not feeling like doing any more death defying stunts for a while. This is way more than she wanted to be involved originally.

“I don’t know how to thank you for this,” Oh Apollo, he shouldn’t leave the door open like that.

“That’s easy,” There are two things she wants from him, “I’m a daughter of Nike, so win and like Jason said don’t forget what us humans taught you after you get your godhood back.”

It’s dark but she thinks he’s blinking away tears again. She must be setting a record for making gods cry or something, “I’ll do that, I promise.”

Ha.

“Learned your lesson about swearing an oath on my grandmother, huh?” Cas has sworn exactly one oath on the River Styx in her life. It was after Luke betrayed the camp when everyone was looking a little too closely at anyone who would’ve called him friend.

“Yes,” He grimaces, “I have a feeling that some of the hardships of this journey are due to my breaking two of those within a couple of days.” That’ll do it. A demigod does that and it’s a horrible curse riddled death but mortal Apollo does it and him and everyone around him have shit days.

Very fair but it’s the gods.

There is one-excuse the pun-burning question in her brain right now, “What’s going to happen to Herophile?” Because Cas doesn’t have a place to put her but then again this isn’t supposed to be her problem anymore.

“I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Something will present itself, I’m sure.” Oh gods, he’s become one of them.

Ignoring her desire to creepily chant ‘one of us’ Cas says, “Now you sound like a true demigod, Lord Apollo.”

He gasps dramatically and all is right in the world again, “How dare you. I am a god and you should worship me.”

Her laugh is cut short by a reminder from her rib cage but it doesn’t kill her mood. She’s alive, her people are alive, her father doesn’t hate her, and she helped deliver a major blow to Triumvirate Holdings. Now that they know what she and her father will bring down on them they’re likely to stay the hell away and possibly back off from the McLeans too.

Good riddance.

~~~

Thirty minutes finds the Fellowship climbing into her father’s car and there’s burgers in it and shakes which is exactly what she needs right now. Her mortal family is awesome. Happy makes eye contact and nods at her in what she thinks is an approving manner but she doesn’t quite understand why. Or maybe he’s just reasserting the fact that she’s alive with his own eyes.

She doesn’t know. All she cares about is whether or not she can dunk her fries in her shake without getting vanilla everywhere. The answer is yes but Meg doesn’t quite get it right because there is shake on her, the seat, and Apollo. The drive to Malibu is far more pleasant than the drive to Santa Barbara even though they’re stuffed and sore. Cas manages to dig more information about the Way Station out of Meg and Apollo and what she hears makes her want to do a backflip.

Kids, adults, and monsters. Again, it’s a proof of concept for what she wants to do everywhere so she promises to help them rebuild and maybe even expand if they accept the help. A few weeks ago she’d been talking to Chiron about finding a way to ease the journey from Camp Half-Blood to Camp Jupiter for the exchange kids. Having a safe neutral point in the center sounds like a great way to start since not everyone can take a plane and not everyone can shadow travel. She’s actually really excited to try and make contact with them and there’s the building in NY which for now is labeled as Adult Demigod Lodgings but hopefully someone can come up with a better name than that. It won’t be her though.

The point is even if she’s (officially) sidelined for the rest of Apollo’s quest against the Triumvirate there’s plenty of work for Cas to do and it’s the kind of work that she wants to be doing. 

It’s well past any reasonable amount of time to be awake when they finally make it back to the house. Now, it is a big house but her father has never been big on guests that stay over so the place isn’t exactly overflowing with extra bedrooms nor are there tons of extra sheets. She intends to impose upon her father one night of complete safety for these guys before Apollo and Meg go on their way. Jason plans on joining the fight with the Legion but Piper and Cas can’t. Instead, Piper’s going back to NY to work with Camp Half-Blood to track down Nero for when Apollo and Meg go after him.

She thanks Happy when she gets out of the car and is careful to get all of her garbage too because there’s a lot of wrappers and she’s already on thin ice with him. The others follow suit as she heads inside where her father is nowhere in sight.

“Hey Jarvis, direct our guests to my room and the room next to it, please.” While she goes to find her father to figure out exactly what the fallout of his involvement is.

“Yes, doctor,” He’s the best, “Mr. Stark is currently on the main balcony.” The main balcony because there’s more than one. It’s actually connected to her third favorite room in the house with the very large and curved window wrapping around it. The first is the lab and the second is the garage.

When she makes her way over her father is having what looks to be a very frustrating video call on the balcony. She can tell because he’s wearing his ‘I don’t actually care what you have to say’ face that he puts on for particularly irritating people that he can’t actually get rid of for one reason or another. He gives himself away with the way his free hand is intermittently twitching. It suggests he’s fully engaged but he’s actually passing so much judgement. Rather than get involved in that she focuses on the news playing on the nearby tv.

Her father is really good at making headlines even in the middle of the night.

_ Iron Man Aids Coast Guard with Cartel Takedown _

Evidently there was some sort of fight between drug cartels off the coast of Santa Barbara… Mortals are really weird about rationalizing things. But there’s no sidebar about flying demigods or plant slinging little girls, so she’ll take it and if it helps her father with public approval and all of that noise then even better.

She hears her father come in from the balcony, “Good job stopping those evil drug traffickers.”

“All in a hard day's work,” He steps up next to her and shakes his head at the ignorant mortals, “Listen, that was Fury,” Shit, “Tried to read me the riot act about going to another team instead of him.” Ha. “Someone will be here to  _ debrief _ me tomorrow.” Dammit.

“Malaka, did he give you a time?” She’s not concerned about what her father will tell them but she does have a stash of enhanced kids upstairs.

“Tomorrow.” How detailed. Her father turns to look her over critically, “Are you actually okay? McLean explained the magic wafers but you didn’t-” Her father cuts himself off sharply.

She could lie here. Cas could tell him that this wasn’t a close shave and that she was always going to be fine but she really doesn’t want to, “Give me two days and I’ll be golden. It’s not the worst hit I’ve taken,” That accolade goes to trying to break her mother out of her godly version of dissociative identity disorder in Greece, “But more importantly I’ve got ideas to improve the Christmas present that saved my life.” It’s something that they can fix now since her injury has already happened.

He’s all business after that because her father also sees a problem to solve. She almost died, again, and her father probably hasn’t accepted that since it just happened but right now there’s something they can work on instead of thinking about it. There’s going to be an argument but it can happen later after the others are gone and Shield takes a few steps back.

Her idea might add to the weight and it will take some trials to find a substance that remains stable at varied temperatures but, “What do you think about a semi solid layer to redistribute the kinetic energy across the vest?”

That level of brainstorming lasts around a half hour before she yawns again and her father sends her off with one more question, “The short violent one,” Must be Meg, “How old is she?” She’s going to have to defend herself after this.

She sighs and runs a hand through her snarled hair. Maybe she can get Piper to braid it before she leaves, “Meg is a twelve year old daughter of Demeter and I’ve never seen one that can do what she can do.” It’s blurry but there were vines all over the side of the ship when she was clinging to Jason. That’s not something Katie can manage on her own and yet the Sunflower can.

“And that makes it okay?” He’s trying to understand but this is the first time her father has been faced with the reality of what demigods go up against. In the stories, it's cool to read about how the hero wins despite impossible odds until you remember that adulthood in ancient Greece was anywhere from fifteen to eighteen. That doesn’t make it acceptable for Meg to fight but she’s been through so much and it would be an insult to treat her like just another child.

So no, it’s not okay, “No, it’s not. But I’m trying to fix it.” She can’t stop Meg now though, “It’s not my place to say how but this fight directly involves the Sunflower and none of us can stop her even if I’d rather bundle her in the Demeter cabin for the winter.” For now she can work on making sure Meg understands that she’s welcome after all of this is over. After she faces her personal Elias….Gods, Cas hasn’t thought about that name in a while.

Stupid stabbing giving her weird dreams.

~~~

Meg is twelve so they segregate the rooms by gender which means Jason shares with Apollo. Sucks for him but that’s what he gets for being male.

“Why do you have a queen sized bed?” It’s not her bed Piper.

“I didn’t pick it. This is my dad’s house and he hired an interior designer to do all of this when the place was built.” It was probably more Pepper than him though. Honestly, does it look like she could have handled this kind of decoration? It’s mature and probably worth as much as all of the furniture in her MIT apartment had been plus the appliances. At the very least. “You should be grateful, it’s not like we have sleeping bags.”

The bed is not quite big enough though because Meg kicks her throughout the night and that little girl is strong. It’s nothing she hasn’t dealt with before but since she’s trying not to roll too much it’s kind of irritating. They still all manage to claim some sleep until Javis, the world's cruelest alarm clock brightens the windows after far too few hours.

It is eight in the morning and there was a battle yesterday….

“Dr. Campeao, Mr. Stark wants you to know that there is a car available to take your friends wherever they want to go.” Awesome, that means she can be here for when Shield shows up while everyone else is way gone.

“Thanks, J.” She gingerly rolls out of bed and lays claim to her bathroom first, “Make sure the boys are up. Apollo’s a bit of a primadona.”

“Then I’m sure he’ll fit right in, doctor.” That brings her up short because Jarvis. She can’t keep the smile off of her face despite her exhaustion because Jarvis just fired shots and she loves it. From the other side of the door she can hear the others moving around so she’s in and out fast. After declaring open season on her things for her guests she heads downstairs first because she needs coffee before the goodbyes start.

She makes it all the way to the kitchen where she can already smell the life fuel, thank the gods, but she’s intercepted before she can get to it.

“Cassie!” Pepper is hugging her a little too tightly because she’s still sore, like a lot, and she winces. She’s released immediately though, “Are you okay? Tony said you were hurt and there was the explosion on the news.” Oops.

“On the mend,” Jason looked worse last night since he got some glass to face. They cleaned it up before he could get another scar to match his stapler one, “I told you yesterday. A-list team.”

“Tony said you set the yachts on fire.” Tattle tail. He threw her under the bus.

“Yeah,” How to put this, “That wasn’t plan A. More like E or F.” Or complete improvisation at the last second.

Judging by the look that Pepper is giving her, she’s not buying it but, “He also said that there were other demigods here and judging by the car Jarvis called…”

“Worried about us invading, Ms. Potts? It’s too late for that. You’re all stuck with me.” She may as well get used to demigods now because it’s been her and her father’s intention for a while to fill SI with them.

This gets Cas a different but much funnier look from Pepper, “No, but….” She takes a fortifying breath, “I don’t know what you were fighting yesterday but I know it wasn’t the Cartel.” That’s going to be a running joke, she can feel it. “So, was anyone else hurt? Did you...win?”

Okay her father really left her to explain all of this to Pepper. Fine, “Remember Triumvirate Holdings, super sketchy?” Her voice becomes quieter as realization dawns in Pepper’s eyes, “Yeah, not just shady but actually evil. We got one third with that ship stunt last night,” She thinks.

She follows Pepper to sit at the kitchen island and pours them coffee while she’s at it, “You wanted to keep them away from us. That’s why you told me about them during lunch.” Cas nods and Pepper sighs, “Right, Cassie, tell me everything.”

Ha. Ummm…. “Everything?” She was hoping to ease Pepper into this over a couple of days, with wine offerings, and maybe an actual gift….Lunch date?

“Now. Go.” The others haven’t crawled their way downstairs yet but if Cas had to guess she bets Apollo and Meg are talking while Jason and Piper ‘talk.’ They won’t be seeing each other for a while and Jason is going to help defend New Rome from whatever else Team Zombie has to throw at them.

Pepper is bearing down on her with the CEO look so she doesn’t have much of a choice but to confess to stealing from Caligula and then trying to destroy his things. Either they were listening or their timing is just that perfect because the rest of the group strolls in just as Cas finishes their daring story. They’re mostly cleaned up if a little bruised and Pepper fixates on Meg immediately because she does look tiny and childish with her rhinestone glasses. Cas made sure to explain that Meg is very strong and capable and that she couldn’t physically remove Meg from the situation at all.

To her credit, Pepper is impossible to read and simply thanks everyone for risking their lives. It’s kind of nice, they don’t get that very often. What’s even better is that Pepper pulls out her wallet and tells Apollo and Meg to feed themselves and get new clothes. Cas had planned to offer but watching Queen Pepper Potts literally blindside the sun god and Meg with her awesomeness was so much better. Cas just watches the whole thing with a light smile and her coffee while Piper comes around and starts poking at her side.

She hisses, “Ow. Stop it! It’s bruised!” She already did this earlier without an audience.

And Piper, “Don’t be a baby, I’m just checking.” This is revenge for nearly dying. Such gratitude. She shares a commiserating glance with Jason because with how often he gets knocked over the head he understands what it’s like to face Piper’s bedside manner. Or the lack thereof. 

And so it goes.

Cas heads out with the group and hugs Piper and Jason before they get in the car. Since Piper is just going back to NY she isn’t worried but she hugs Jason a little bit tighter and wishes him good luck. She has complete faith in his ability to not die but that doesn’t mean she isn’t conflicted about not being in New Rome when Commodus arrives. She’s never been in a situation like this where they can be prepared at the location of the fight so far ahead of time. Hopefully, it will make a difference for the Romans. They may irritate her but they’re still a big part of her reality.

She does however, catch Meg and Apollo before they get in the car, “Sunflower, you owe me a spar, got it?” Cas has decided that she likes Meg and she expects her to stay alive.

Meg, for her part, looks curious, “Yeah?”

“Good,” She nods, “Then when this is done I’ll expect it this summer in Camp Half-Blood.” Cas holds out her hand to shake on it and Meg stares at it like it’s about to bite her so she looks at Apollo instead.

“Meg, you need to shake her hand to agree.” Thank you Apollo for that etiquette lesson. Meg for her part grabs on and shakes a little roughly before jumping in the back of the car.

“Thank you again, Cassandra.” Gods, he’s still dramatic but he’s all humany emotional too now.

“Don’t mention it, Lester.” Well, he’s earned it and she’s unlikely to see him again like this. With how they pushed the zombies it’s going to come to an end soon. It’s just a matter of time, “And call me, Cas.”

That gets her a smile and a nod, “Cas it is, then,” before he too jumps in the car and she’s left firmly planted on the mortal side of things once again….With Shield.

Yay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My guys, in this chapter we have my second go at having Cas be an unreliable narrator. (the first is in chapter 8 if you can find it but it won't be important until later)
> 
> In Cas's conversation in front of the tv with her father he asks about Meg being twelve. Cas really thinks the conversation is only about Meg and doesn't see any deeper implications there but conflicted Tony Stark has just been stuck across the face by his daughter's reality. He had months to get used to the idea of her having abilities, he's had some time to acclimate to having a daughter and now he's just made the connection that at one point in time Cas wasn't an adult. 
> 
> It's one thing to know and another thing entirely to understand but Cas assumed that her father grasped the implications of her age weeks or even months ago. She's sees him calling her out on Meg as a failure on her part to do what she promised and protect demigods.
> 
> They're due for a conversation....several actually. But who knows when that's going to happen.
> 
> <3


	17. Hard Talks and New Realities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've done it folks...
> 
> This is the end of my ToA arcs. After Tower of Nero comes out I'll consider adding another one or two conclusion chapters but I'll probably be moved on by then. Instead we get to live in the happy universe where everyone lives because I don't kill kids for the emotional advancement of characters who should already be matured....lookin at you Rick Riordan.
> 
> For anyone curious, I won't be doing anything with the Cane Chronicles because I don't feel like broadening the cast of this AU anymore than I already have. It is really had to write semi realistic conversations that don't take too long with more that 3-4 people involved. Or maybe it's a sign of my writing skill.

Throughout the course of Cas’s existence, the only people she has ever had to defend actions to are demigods, Chiron, and the occasional god. The third one barely counts because if they’re interested they were already watching what happened and just wanted the ‘mortal perspective.’ So the idea of having her father explain to Shield, when he’s not even really a member, how he knew to call in the Coast Guard is really weird to her. 

It’s like expecting her to defend a Greek quest decision in New Rome. They don’t have authority over her decisions so why would she need to explain herself to them? And yet, her father and Pepper are discussing a believable cover story that she’s expected to memorize too in case anyone asks her.

They’re going with happenstance and a night flight while testing suit upgrades. It’s not like her father shows up on most aircraft radars below certain elevations so if he flew low and fast enough then no one would know he was out there.

Simple luck. And why would he call Shield? They’re just spies and the occasional superhero so no reason that they would be involved in a gang war, right? (Wrong, totally wrong but they can’t prove it yet.) Of course, this is all official Shield business too so Cas and Pepper are not allowed to be there which is frustrating but she doesn’t put up much of a fight. Also, Cas is a little cut up and bruised still so it’s for the best that she isn’t around while looking like she went twelve rounds with a supervillain.

No, she gets it worse.

While her dad is having fun talking circles around whatever suit Shield sends their way, Cas is secreted away by Pepper and Happy where they grill her with the hard questions like:

“Why is Apollo a teenage boy?”

See, it’s not a fair question because she doesn’t want to talk about the giants and saying that Apollo helped his descendant with the attempted genocide of the Greek demigods is likely to have some follow up questions.

Instead she says, “He pissed off his father again.” Because that is true.

But then Rhodey shows up in the conference room she’s in too and it’s a bit of a ‘what in Hades’ moment. There was some kind of miscommunication there because he was under the impression that she took on a fleet of armed men solo. Which is entirely false. She snuck into a fleet of armed men with four other people and for some reason that isn’t very reassuring.

She gets that Rhodey is the liaison for the Air Force and SI in addition to being War Machine now but he is here a lot.

“Cas, you took a kid into a live fire zone.”

She knows alright. Was she supposed to leave the twelve year old unattended at the cafe instead? Meg McCaffrey would definitely sit patiently and wait for them to come back.

“She’s more helpful in a straight fight like that than you would be,” And besides, “She didn’t even get hurt.” This is a demigod problem and she would appreciate it if they took a collective step back. The looks she’s getting tell her that she’s missed the point but whatever. It’s over and done with now, Meg and Apollo have moved on and Cas has no plans to take on anymore ‘cartels.’ 

Cas is not in a hospitable mood by the time she gets the all clear to go back to bed.

~~~

Her father is waiting for her in the foyer with a glass held to his head for the headache Shield left him with. Great, he’s not in a very good mood either but she doesn’t want to put this conversation off anymore. She wants it over with so that she can head back to bed and not deal with mortals questioning her choices. Clearly, he does too if he’s sitting where she’s going to have to walk.

“We need to talk about you tracking my phone.” Now that everyone is gone she really wants to get this hammered out. Maybe she wasn’t clear enough about demigod business being off limits without an invite but everyone seems to have opinions now even though she’s been doing this for a long time.

“We need to talk about you cutting yourself off from help.” Okay, guilty. That was a decision made in error but she adapted like always and she’s been working for years without being able to call for help.

However, “If you’re going to track me when I’m fighting monsters then I want to track Iron Man.” That’s a fair trade concession and he doesn’t get to call her out on her communication skills, Mr. Palladium.

He doesn’t see it that way though, “No, this wasn’t you fighting some lion or bigfoot. This was a kiddie spec ops mission.” Her father clearly has some misconceptions about monster fighting in the 21st century. He knows the Princess Andromeda story, he knows about the titans, and he knows she fought in all of that. Those weren’t one offs.

But of all the short sightedness, “I told you from day one that monsters are living embodiments of negative aspects of humanity,” Some grow past that but not all, “Did you think that living greed or hate always came conveniently alone?” They’re getting in each other’s space now.

“You didn’t say they hire paramilitary groups.” More proof that their world is changing in ways that’ll be hard to adapt to.

She flinches because that’s true, “Because I’ve never seen that before.” Luke hired mortal security teams but it was nothing like this and they weren’t around long.

“The moment you saw guns you should have called me in.” So he could shoot everyone and make it worse because that would have been a brilliant idea.

And besides, “Why? I don’t know how to work with you. I’m trained to work with demigods and I knew that team.” She’s been fighting next to other demigods for almost ten years. It’s as easy as breathing for her now.

“You were in over your head!” He’s the first to go past arguing to yelling.

“I had it handled!” And she’s not backing down on this.

“Handled? You nearly died!”

“And that’s my choice!” He pulls back abruptly, “If it comes down to it and I can’t find a way out it’s me before my friends.” She’s mourned enough of them and she can’t, “I-I can’t lose anyone else.” Is she crying? When did that happen?

“Cassie,” He takes her by the shoulders and says, “It’s not all on you, trust me.”

How can he even say that? She can’t bring him into these fights not when, “You almost died on that racetrack,” The race that changed her entire perspective, “And then you almost  _ let _ yourself die.” He’s a mortal. He has the armor but without it he’s just a man. Her world has ruined stronger people than Cas, she doesn’t want him involved. She doesn’t want any of them involved.

“I did. And I lucked out to have Buffy the Monster Slayer at my back.” She huffs because, even if she’s mad, Buffy is high praise, “You saved me and I can pay that back.” Bit of an exaggeration. It was a collaboration.

She shakes her head, “No, bad things happen to mortals tha-”

“Then why tell the world?” Huh? “Did you think that once us puny mortals know about the Gorgons and gods that we would let the kids fight on their own?”

She-

No, that’s not what she wants. She wants demigods to be able to live and protect themselves but she doesn’t want mortals inserting themselves into their fights. They can’t handle gods, giants, and the underworld. 

“You can’t expect me to know and do nothing when I can, Cassie.” He’s being reasonable, she knows that but she doesn’t want this, “Let me.”

“But I-” She cuts herself off because she’s not ready for that, “I don’t want you to die because of me.”

“Cassandra Stark,” That’s not even her name yet, “They didn’t die because of you.” She knows. She tells herself that after every nightmare and every dream that tricks her into thinking her friends are still alive. “And if I die, then it’s my choice.” Dammit.

“Malaka,” That’s not fair, “You used my words.”

“Can’t let you be a hypocrite,” He takes a step back and changes lanes in a way that she is all for at this point, “Shield begged for help making secure lines of communication on their quinjets, helicopters...and whatever else,” He fakes a shudder, “Those things need so much work to be useful. I was thinking of putting a backdoor in just for fun.” Prank calling Shield?

That’s a worthy endeavor.

She wipes her face, “I’m thinking... the Pirates of Carribean theme.” For the Pirate and his stalker crew.

He looks at her with mock disappointment, “So cliche and terrible. I was thinking The Beatles or ‘Over the Rainbow.’” Oof....Cas doesn't like The Beatles so that's just mean in her eyes.

She can sleep later. This is a much better use of her time. If they sneak in discussing ways that she and her father could work together in combat situations too then that’s their business. It’s not perfect and they might have more hiccups in the future but now that he understands what she gets up to maybe they can make something work. 

~~~

She’s woken up that night by a phone call and Cas very nearly smashes it against the wall as hard as she can until she sees who it is.

Annabeth? She hasn’t heard from her since she ran off to Boston weeks ago.

“J, this one’s private.” She gets an acknowledgement and then she answers, “Blondie, the sun is still down and so am I.”

_ “Cas, I need to talk to you about something important.”  _ That’s not a typical Annabeth greeting. Usually, she gets something along the lines of ‘deal with it and talk to me,’ right. She’s curious now.

“Did Percy pop the question? Because I know you love each other but you’re both young.” Also, she makes a tidy sum if they wait until after twenty three to tie the knot.

_ “What? No!”  _ Ha! Take that Connor!  _ “This is important!”  _ Okay, she sounds a little frazzled but Cas isn’t getting any red flags so it can’t be that bad.

_ “Remember how I told you my dad split from his family?” _ Vaguely.

This is an unusual conversation line, “They’re mean conspiracy theorists that think they’re vikings?” They haven’t talked about this in a long time.

_ “Close enough. Or that’s what I thought because that’s what dad told me.”  _ She’s sensing that this was some sort of falsehood.

“Are you a viking?” That would be a new one. She’s never met a viking before.

_ “The technical term is Norse or Dane.”  _ Gotta properly represent the Norseman,  _ “But again not important. My family doesn’t think they’re Norse descendents.”  _ Okay? Then-  _ “My family thinks they’re Asgardian descendants.” _

“Like Odin?” Uh no, that’s a nope, “Annabeth, I’m all for rediscovering your roots but we keep pantheons separate. Please, don’t tell me there are valkyries in Massachusetts that now want to be buddies.” She went to school up there and never saw anything….Asgard-like?

_ “That’s what my dad thought when he met my mom but no.” _

No? This is getting weird.

“Are there or aren’t there Norse things in Boston?” 

_ “I want to talk to you about this before I tell Percy. I’m scared he’ll freak out.”  _ This is getting weirder. What could happen that would make Annabeth doubt Percy? He is loyalty. There’s nothing that would make Percy leave Annabeth.

“Remember that time in Rome where he fell into tartarus for you? I was there too?” Because come on, if they made it through that then nothing will separate those two, “I don’t think you need to worry.”

Annabeth hesitates on the other side of the phone,  _ “My family's Boston home has all of these ‘artifacts’ in it that they claim came from the stars.”  _ What? That’s a little tinfoil hat like…  _ “And before you say anything, a few weeks ago in December, some of them turned on.” _

Ummmm…. “Annabeth, are you related to little green men?”

_ “That’s the problem! I don’t know!”  _ Damn, for Annabeth to say that is serious. 

Right.

Another new thing. That’s cool but the world is getting all kinds of strange. Zombies that fight with economics and alien descendents in Boston.

Actually, why are they in Boston?

“If they met in Scandinavian countries, why are they in Massachusetts?”

Although she should have seen the answer coming,  _ “Witch hunters.”  _ She rolls her eyes because mortals are crazy.

Annabeth potentially has ancestors from another planet. She can handle this, “Just because your many greats grandpappy is maybe from Mars does not mean you have a cooler origin story.” Annabeth is still her sister. And now Cas kind of wants to go to Boston to play with potentially alien technology but she doesn’t want to stomp all over Annabeth’s family problems.

Being considerate in the face of awesome science is hard….

Annabeth laughs though,  _ “Thanks Cassie,” _ Yeah, no problem. She’ll work on ET science later, after she’s settled into her own family some more,  _ “Do I tell Percy?” _

Ha. Oh, Hades no, “Yes, you tell him! He’s not going to care, Blondie. The boy’s been in love with you since the Sea of Monsters, he just didn’t figure it out until later.” So she’s got some space blood. It’s new but not the strangest thing they’ve ever heard about/seen. That would be Bessie the Ophiotaurus because a teleporting bull/sea serpent is so strange to look at.

_ “There’s a big difference between being a demigod and being part alien.”  _

Ha. Yeah, “The difference is you’re even cooler now. Like yeah, my dad flies a suit of armor but you’re related to people with interplanetary travel.” Epic. So epic. Now Cas wants to meet them. “Can you phone home? I want to expand my horizons.”

_ “I think there’s some kind of star chart here and I can’t read the language but my dad and I are working with my uncle.”  _ Nothing like a major historical breakthrough to bring families together,  _ “But we haven’t figured out how to work anything yet.” _

Huh, should she offer?...yes. The answer is yes, “Well, if you want my science brain on it let me know.” 

_ “Not right now,”  _ Damn, it’s for the best though. She may actually break some people’s minds if she gets involved with extraterrestrials after fighting a zombie,  _ “My family is being kind of cagey about this and they’re barely letting me near it.” _

“Fine,” She sighs, “But I want to play with your new alien toys.”

_ “I don’t think they’re toys.” _

The doubt, “Only to the uninitiated. Why did the aliens only go to Northern Europe?” It’s possible that they know about Olympus from being super space age and technologically advanced but why leave? Did Zeus cancel their tourist visa? Questions for another time.

_ “That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”  _ That sounds like a fun project,  _ “I’ll let you go. Sorry for the wake up.”  _ Yeah, she’s not going back to sleep anymore. __

“See you, Star-Girl.” 

_ “No.” _ Ha.

“Yes, love ya. Good talk. Bye.” And then she hangs up.

She could try to go back to sleep but….sun’ll be up in under an hour anyway and her gym space calls. It’s only bruising now so she’s fine for some light work.

There are aliens now...Not that Cas disregarded the statistical probability of life on other planets because let’s face it the universe is big and old. Odds are someone’s been knocking about longer than humanity. And according to what Annabeth thinks, some of them have intelligent life that has visited Earth. If it were anyone else Cas would tell them to prove it but this is Annabeth and if she comes to the conclusion she’s got family from beyond the asteroid belt then Cas will believe her.

Her life is really getting strange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Music of Cassandra Stark: Black Sabbath and AC/DC are all well and good but…
> 
> You can imagine that this led to some disputes while messing around because working in silence is no good but neither Cas nor her father want to listen to the other's music all of the time. 
> 
> The Beastie Boys-Sabotage, Intergalactic, So What’Cha Want, No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn  
> The Foo Fighters-Walk, Learning to Fly, Monkey Wrench  
> Green Day-American Idiot or 21 Guns (depends); Basket Case too  
> MCR- besides the obvs? (Helena or Famous Last Words)  
> Rise Against-September’s Children  
> The Offspring-You’re Gonna Go Far Kid  
> Wolfmother- Joker and the Thief  
> Eminem- ‘Till I Collapse  
> The White Stripes- Icky Thump, Seven Nation Army  
> Cage the Elephant- Ain’t No Rest For the Wicked  
> Rage Against the Machine-Killing in the Name  
> Gorillaz-Clint Eastwood
> 
> However When Driving/Traveling With Demigods There Are Certain Anthems to be Respected
> 
> In this house we do rock out to Welcome to the Black Parade  
> We ugly sing Mr. Brightside  
> Kryptonite by Three Doors Down is always respected  
> As is American Pie  
> The Middle by Jimmy Eat World is a respectable addition  
> And EVERYONE on the Argo II learned to sing I’m Gonna Be by the Proclaimers because they were traveling.
> 
> Occasionally there could be a Bohemian Rhapsody but it takes a certain type of bravery to try and hit all of those notes or an acceptance of their collective tone deafness(With the exception of Piper and surprisingly enough Frank; Cas and Leo are still working on Hazel for modern music)
> 
> Of course…..This is only a small example her music library. I see Cas as the type to have used Napster and LimeWire after she really got into music when she was making her own CDs back in the day.


	18. Part 3 - The Cult of Alexander - Chapter 18 - Crossing Thresholds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much in the way of plot but some groundwork for later.

_ October 10, 2001 _

_ Somewhere in Long Island _

Her feet hurt.

Cassandra’s feet hurt but she has to keep running. There’s a  _ movemovemove  _ pounding in her head like she’s never heard before but every other part of her is screaming listen or die.

Her head hurts too. 

Cassandra hurtles through the underbrush trying to keep ahead of the hissing and scraping that’s behind her. She knows like she knows her own name that the knife clutched in her hand will do exactly nothing against the giant scorpion trying to kill her.

Why is it trying to kill her? She isn’t certain. It can’t be from Elias because if he had one of those she never would have gotten away from him. 

Either way, the knife is useless so instead she’s running through thorns and tree trunks praying to hopefully her mother that those slow the monster down enough for her to get away. Why did her mother give her a knife? She could really use a sword right about now….or a bow. Honestly, she’d settle for a spear. 

A nasty branch comes out of nowhere and tears a bloody scratch into her face above her eye and now she has to deal with that.

Dirty, sweaty, hungry, exhausted, and now there’s blood in her eye. Perfect.

She doesn’t slow down though even as she bursts into a clearing with a hill that has a massive pine tree on it. Cassandra’s eyes lock on it.  _ Important. Safe. Move. _

The feelings haven’t steered her wrong since she started listening so Cassandra decides to continue the trend. The sky is starting to turn a pale gray color so she knows that the sun will be coming up soon. She crests the hill when she hears the crashing behind her but she doesn’t slow down because that tree is  _ safe. _

She really wants that.

There’s a feeling as Cassandra passes the tree like walking through water but not getting wet and she collapses to the ground. She’s safe now. She knows she’s safe.

“Hey! Brat!” Almost safe. Someone in a gaudy orange shirt that she can’t focus enough to read right now stands over her with a sword. Cassandra could have used that a few minutes ago. “What are you doing here?”

Her chest is heaving but she remembers the words her mother gave her before she was sent on her way, “I demand to see Chiron.”

~~~

_ March 30, 2011 _

_ Whatever Place Pepper Told Them to Be At Whatever Time They Got There _

Her hand hesitates on the door handle. On the other side is the end of the shred of anonymity that she’s clinging to because a week ago someone let slip that Cassandra Stark is a thing and the DNA test exists. How considerate of them. 

She’d been working at the time in one of the more open lab spaces at SI until she felt the staring. There weren’t any pictures of her immediately after the leak but the R&D department is full of intelligent people. She’s an abnormally smart young woman named Cassandra with a large amount of accomplishments for her age that has been trailing their boss since August.

A three year old could put that together.

She’d been not so subtly pinged by Jarvis to get up to Pepper’s office and from there she was sent home to her father’s house because they haven’t found her a good apartment yet. If only they could have waited another two weeks because she had a good feeling about one that’s only twenty minutes from SI.

It could have been perfect but instead she spent the past week essentially hiding while Pepper prepared the world for the introduction of Tony Stark’s secret adult love child. 

And now she’s hesitating at the passenger door of the car her father drove them in.

“We could always ditch and work on the new Arc Reactor design instead.” Her father looks unaffected as he sits patiently in the driver’s seat.

“No, that would just be delaying the inevitable.” Sooner or later, she’s going to have to do this but it feels like one of the Point of No Return save points in a video game. Is there anything she wants to get done first before everything is locked in forever?

No, but there are cameras out there.

“I know but I wanted to make you say it.” Malaka. He’s different. Her father is a much different man from the one that she met in August. He’s still an irreverent and sarcastic ass, but he’s also more present.

They aren’t joined at the hip or any sort of Brady Bunch in fact this past week represents the longest amount of time that they have spent together continuously and it was hell. There’s care and respect but by the gods she knows how to maintain a car on her own, she can’t stand how loudly he plays his music sometimes, he needs to stop poking at her calculations, and could he please share the godsdamned coffee maker. When she can finally move out she will celebrate and possibly avoid him for days, he’ll probably do the same.

“Here,” She looks over and he’s holding a pair of sunglasses towards her.

She snorts, “Are we supposed to be matching or something?” Because they certainly didn’t coordinate stylewise. He’s in a black three piece with an obscenely red tie and she’s in blues and greys.

He looks at her over the bridge of his own sunglasses before he says, “It’s for the flashes,” Ah, “And you can look wherever you want without them knowing.” Oh, that’s useful.

She slips them on her face and sends up a quick prayer to her mother, “Let’s go.” Then she opens the door and steps out. There are flashes starting from the moment she opens the door but she ignores them and the shouting like she was coached to do over the last couple days. It’s not hard to maintain a laissez faire attitude to their badgering as long she holds onto the thought that she’s been through worse.

Confidence. This is going better than her first exposure to cameras back in December.

It’s not like the Expo because she had to make the Mob interested in something that she sort of made. Nah, they’re already interested in this new thing that is her and a fun but not unexpected scandal(her father still has a reputation). They have a solid cover story that Chiron has been looped in on because he will be bothered unfortunately. Still, as she stands to her full height, which isn’t that much because she’s been put in shoes that leave her just noticeably shorter than her father, her eyes sweep the judgemental crowd. It’s not an audience of demigods or a panel of academics but she’s not by herself.

This is proven by her father coming up beside her with the intent to escort her up the stairs to the closed room where this circus act is taking place, “Do I need to say something about picturing people in their underwear?”

Very funny but no.

She’s grateful for the sunglasses because she gets to roll her eyes, “I think I’ll make it, old man.”

He plants a fake smile on his face that she returns, “Yeah, you need to scale back on that. I’m 40 not decrepit.”

Ha, that’s never going to happen, “Denial will get you nowhere in life.” They make it to the door while he opens and ushers her through both of them completely ignoring the questions being shouted at them. “Is that some new grey mixed in there?” Cas is only expected to answer questions after her father tells their limited and controlled journalist audience the story they’ve agreed on. The press has been informed so she’s under no obligation to speak to them until then.

“If there were, and there aren’t, “It would be entirely your fault.” Cas holds back her laughter because this isn’t the time.

Pepper is already seated by the podium but she gets up to hug Cas when they reach her on stage. It’s another lovely camera moment this time showing the bastard daughter hugging the father’s girlfriend. Somewhere in the back of the room blending in is Happy and Rhodey and she’ll be trying to spot them once it’s her turn to speak because she doubts that this will require all of her brain power. The sunglasses come off as she settles in.

“Do you think he’ll stick to the cards?” That’d been a fun story to hear and surreal too because if he hadn’t announced himself as Iron Man she never would have come forward. It’s what gave her the idea in the first place.

Pepper can only sigh and Cas grins, “He’d better. We went over all of it together.” Eh, the worst case scenario is that she improvises too. That’s hardly new at this point.

The picture that her father paints is exactly the sort of thing that the press will eat up. Her parents met once when he was 18 (for the purposes of their story her mother’s name is Nicole which is derived from her name anyway, so, close enough) and she never contacted her father ever. Which is accurate. Cas being left with and raised by a family friend named Mr. Brunner, a teacher and social worker, while unaware of her parentage is also reasonably accurate.

Her going to MIT never knowing who her father was only to discover her illustrious heritage part way through her education is the stuff of prime time television. However, this is where the narrative diverts a bit from the truth. Instead of literally not having the capability to form a relationship with her father when she was sixteen years old, they say that she was afraid of facing the repercussions of coming forward when she was already doing fine. It’s got a grain of truth to it.

When she came to SI this past August it was purely curiosity and the hope that her project (it’s useful that he gave her full credit for the Pegasus processor) would be picked up. She was older and wanted to see who her father was up close which is perfectly reasonable since he’s Iron Man. And then he was almost murdered in front of her so she came clean about her identity out of guilt which then prompted her father to convince her to change her name.

It’s the one thing that everyone was adamant about. The story is that Tony Stark had to convince Cassandra Campeao to change her name to Cassandra Stark so that the public knows that this isn’t about the money. No one wants her to be accused of being a leech or something worse. It’s inevitable that she will be but SI legal will be waiting in the wings with defamation of character lawsuits. Cas chose not to fight anyone on this. If they want to take trash talkers to court on her behalf she won’t stop them. She knows when to pick her battles.

And her father sticks to the cards which is nice for her because it covers all of the hard questions like “where is her mother?” Her mother is not around and not likely to pop in any time soon. Moving on.

“And now I get to introduce the lady of hour,” Oh gods, she's up. Beside her Pepper sighs again but Cas stands anyway and smiles for the cameras because why not, “I present to you Dr. Cassandra Stark who is so much more than just my daughter but a brilliant mind in her own right.” That makes her freeze on the way to the podium with wide eyes because that wasn’t in the cards but maybe it’s somewhat true but her father does not talk like that. Intentional press shock factor maybe? “But you don’t need me to tell you that.”

She says freeze but most everyone else won’t have noticed that minute pause on the way to her father. He swings an arm around her shoulder for another picture moment even if neither of them are on a casual hugging basis with the other as of now. Maybe they will be in the future and maybe they won’t be. There’s time to figure these things out.

“Just scream for help if you need saving.” He says into her ear.

Why is he like this?

“Can’t I just leap out the window and run for my life?” It's a little late for that since her picture's been taken alongside her father.

He steps back and waves her forward, "They'd find you eventually. It's all over. Enjoy." 

Yeah, that wasn't foreboding or anything. Her father is still her father and he's never going to lose his flare for the dramatic.

She takes a deep breath as she settles herself at the podium, "Hi everyone, I've been reliably informed that people are interested in me for some reason." As she sweeps the theater she does spot both Rhodey and Happy in different parts of the crowd. "So, who's first?" 

That's a lot of hands. That's like fifty hands. 

She points at one random man with a squirrel on his hat. It's eye catching so he gets to talk first.

"Trevor Ellis, LA Times," Oh joy, she picked a big one first. Pepper said she only had to answer as many questions as she felt comfortable with. She still gets the feeling that one is too few, "Now that you're here, Dr. Stark," Points for using the correct prefix, "What are your plans?"

She plans to gain influence in society and then introduce a race of superpowered beings after she has a large enough support base.

Nah.

They're not ready for that just yet….gods that's a Shield-like thought but at least she's working towards transparency. They anticipated this question during their prep work over the last week.

"That's a great question, Trevor, with a fun answer," She smiles at the man in question, "I plan to get to know my father more now that I have this opportunity and I’ll continue working at Stark Industries like I have been, especially on the new clean energy project." It's something relevant to her research on demigod energy signatures too. She and her father are both convinced that they can, one, power whole cities one day via arc reactor. Two, they think that the element rediscovered back in December is the secret to understanding exactly what the gods are.

Not so bad, he was probably was hoping for something dumb in response. She can do this.

She points to a lady in a sharp jacket that she actually likes, "Cheryl Lewis, with the Washington Post,” That’s not so bad but does she really qualify for this type of news? “What did it feel like when you found out the Tony Stark is your dad?”  _ The _ Tony Stark? Cas wants to laugh at the unnecessary emphasis and she may have plans to call out ‘Look! It's  _ The _ Tony Stark’ every time her father enters a room now. Honestly, it’s his own fault that he’s built up his image like that so she will poke at it.

Well, the real answer is that she didn’t think much of it at the time other than she wanted to talk to Luke and Silena about it but then Luke was gone when she got back to camp. They got a Percy Jackson instead and suddenly there was a big threat on the horizon.

The practiced answer, “Ummmm….It was a bit surreal. The idea of having a parent was a bit beyond my understanding so not much changed for me. I was already in college. I’ve never needed much adult supervision, you can ask any of my professors.” Many didn’t like her because she worked around them but she never caused any problems while she was there….nothing serious anyway.

And is that a small dig at the people who tried to judge her Santa Barbara choices? Maybe. Either way, there’s a lot of downplaying involved in the way she’s presenting herself but it’s not exactly a lie. Chiron is far too busy to be an actual parent to every demigod and with their average lifespans in comparison to his, she's not surprised that he doesn’t try. Imagine viewing kids as sons and daughters only for them to be dead by twenty five while he has to continue teaching the next group. It’s not a fate that she would wish on anyone. But truth be told, once Chiron realized she was mostly stable and in need of mental challenges he happily shipped her off to MIT and MIT was more than happy to take in another promising child genius.

And then the woman who Cas will always refer to in her head as the Mean Lady speaks, “Christine Everhart, Vanity Fair,” Cas was warned about her. Evidently she doesn’t like her father for some ‘reason.’ No one has explicitly told her but based on the levels of discomfort that appeared in the room when Pepper brought her up….yeah her father slept with this woman at one point. Not judging, she’s a Greek demigod and she’s got stories from antiquity to modern times about what others have gotten up to. However, it’s possible that Ms. Everhart dislikes Cas on principle or she just has the belief where if she’s not a rude journalist she won’t get a good story. But come on, Cas didn’t even call on her, “Dr. Stark, now that you have access to your daddy’s money,” What? She intentionally loosens her grip in the podium because cracking it would be bad, “How are you going to use it?” 

They knew someone would try to do this. In fact, Pepper made sure to sit down with Cas and explain to her that some women are mean to women just because. She’s aware. It makes no sense but it happens. And yet, for every Christine Everhart looking for a reaction worth writing about there’s a Pepper Potts or a Sally Jackson to be amazing.

Well, if the Mean Lady wants to use words like ‘daddy’ as if she were a child, “I’m sorry ma’am I didn’t realize my personal financial situation was on the docket for today.” Cas will make cracks about her age too. She may have put some extra emphasis on ma’am. 

But the woman is undeterred by Cas pushing her away, none too gently, “What no car?”

Fine. She can make this work in her favor, “Well, that depends, Ms. Everhart.”

“On?” Isn’t Mean Girls a high school thing? Not that Cas would know because she’s never been but generally adults at least pretend to have manners when they ask people for something, like say personal information about the individual.

She smiles full on because this is one hundred percent truth, “My dad,” Old Man is for her and her father not the Mob, “See his workshop has everything in it so I think if we worked on one together I’d drive it but I already have a motorcycle so I don’t exactly need one. It’d be a fun side project though.” The Mean Lady swings for inconsiderate brat and hits sappy father/daughter time instead. Suck it. 

She answers a few more questions that are largely random. No one forgets to call her Dr. Stark, which is nice because she did work for those PhDs, but everyone seems to forget what that means. Her father doesn’t go by Dr. Stark usually-convenient since it’d get confusing-because Mr. Stark carries a level of power from when Howard Stark walked the Earth. (As every demigod knows, names have power) So, even if he gets caught making an ass of himself somewhere he’s fine in the business world….he’s also male but no one needs to get into that here. Anyway, since she’s Tony Stark’s daughter everyone has this predetermined image that Cas just won’t fit in and she’s enjoying leaving them disillusioned.

So, when the dude bro she immediately regrets calling on even if she liked his pink shirt asks about her dating life she kind of just stares at him and wonders why he would care. Then she remembers that she’s Cassandra Stark now, daughter to Tony Stark who has a reputation. 

And Cas, she hasn’t had the time or the inclination to actually date. Maybe, and this is a huge maybe, but maybe in a perfect world where Kronos never came back and Gaea never woke up Cas may have looked twice at Luke one day. Or maybe she would have looked twice at Silena and then threatened Charlie about breaking her heart. However, her priorities have always been on the camp since she decided it was her home and not her love life. No one has ever pushed her on it, not even Silena herself.

But they’re all dead and all of the other demigods in her life are firmly in the ‘under protection of Cas, will stab if provoked’ category and/or are considered family. Also, they’re all younger than her. And dating a mortal? Ha. Nope. She barely speaks to mortals in her age bracket and it’s possible that she’ll never properly connect with them. Doesn’t bother her. Maybe it’s a Stark thing to find a person later in life than the average because her grandfather married late and her father only just started dating Pepper. Either way, Cas doesn’t need a person like that so she’s not looking but if it happens….cool.

Rather than get upset at the intrusive question she looks the man dead in the eye and says, “Nope.” As obnoxiously as she possibly can and then she drums her fingers on the podium in the predetermined signal to Pepper that she wants off now. They glossed over this topic with her while preparing because no one wanted to talk about it even if it was guaranteed to come up. The consensus was to let Cas handle it and this is how she’s handling it.

But now she’s done and Queen Pepper crosses to the podium and smoothly releases Cas from her talking duties while reinforcing the fact that she works at SI and was hired before anyone knew who she was. From there Pepper takes the opportunity to elaborate on the Stark Clean Energy project that has been previously mentioned but now they have a large and attentive audience so they can do it again. Then there’s an unexpected surprise at the end.

“Stark Industries has recently finished zoning for our new headquarters in New York City,” Cas did not know about this. She looks at her father and other than a sarcastic ‘surprise’ he doesn’t elaborate, “It will be the first in a series of buildings around the world that will be fully powered by Arc Reactor technology.” Di immortales, that’s amazing.

She doesn’t normally enjoy unexpected surprises but this is awesome. New headquarters in NY? Yes, please. She’s grown to love LA but for most of her life Long Island has been home even if she spent months at MIT. Being closer to Camp Half-Blood most of the time would be a gift and they are the proud owners of a very nice high-rise which is being left to the devices of Annabeth Chase. 

When she told her father that she was using an undisclosed amount of money to purchase a building for adult demigods to live in he just looked at her and nodded then went back to what he was doing. He didn’t even care. Then of course he later asked if she planned to live there and she said, “Annabeth is giving me the top floor because it’s my building.” Even if it really isn’t everyone is saying it is.

It’ll be nice to have a space to sleep for demigods that isn’t necessarily a cabin. She hopes this didn’t prompt the decision to go to NYC….maybe they chose to keep it as a surprise because they knew she wants to live in NY again. She’ll ask later for now she tries to avoid imitating a gaping fish while Pepper announces that the new Stark Tower is projected to be wholly off of city power by Spring of 2012.

Wow. Cas is going to have a lot to keep her busy over the next many months.

At least she got her ‘meet the world’ press release over with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've decided that I really want to do my best on character continuity for you guys so some notes on how I plan on doing things.
> 
> 1) Tony Stark is shown in the movies to advance emotionally when presented with extreme circumstances. In layman's terms, he always rises to the occasion. That being said I made him a dad to someone who has a tendency to get into trouble #demigodlife. He's going to develop as a character faster and in a (hopefully) healthier manner than he did in canon MCU because I will it so and self-indulgence.
> 
> 2) I plan to watch just for you my readers Thor, CA: The 1st Avenger, and The Incredible Hulk. I'm also considering throwing in some Agent Carter and Agents of Shield purely for world building business I'm not bringing in even more characters.
> 
> 3) I have a request for my readers who brighten my day with comments and kudos and bookmarks; are there any historical figures outside of what Rick Riordan gives us that you feel would be good demigod name drops. They don't have to be the ancient world but even like the 1930s or something like that. I need them for things....and I want to encourage reader interaction because talking to you guys is fun. :)


	19. 73k and We Finally Get to the Titular Enemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I started writing this I thought that I’d take a jab at making some cool villain arc but this turned into something else instead and while it’s short and fast I really like how it turned out. It’s helped me really hash out Cas as a character and decide where she needs to develop. Also, practicing writing action and realistic conversations has been a fun challenge for me. The Child of Nike is interesting because Cas has her own plot but is very much a side character in Tony Stark’s story. This is about Cas coming to terms with where she’s from and where she really wants to go.
> 
> Up until a few months ago, Cas wasn’t living for herself but now she wants to and that’s what this story is going to be about.
> 
> Also, the format for this arc is going to be a bit different. It's a short story split into chapters preceded by a relevant vignette. Sort of like Arrow before that show got too weird for me.

_ December 22, 2004 _

_ Camp Half-Blood, where else? _

She’s panting after the last round of that spar. Gods, Luke is fast but she’s faster. Doesn’t matter this time though because he’s better with a sword than she is.

He’s the only one better than her. 

“Cassie, I don’t understand how you can just let it go.” Here they go again. Luke really needs to get over his dad. At least his father is one of the twelve Olympians so he gets to have his own cabin. She and the other minor god children rarely if ever meet their godly parent. Cas is lucky that her mother took the time to save her ass in the middle of Nowhere, Connecticut.

“I’m not letting go of anything, Luke,” Oops, it’s best if she squishes that hopeful look how, “There’s nothing for me to let go of. I don’t need my mother to hold my hand.” She’s in MIT on a full scholarship and she’s on track to finish her undergrad by seventeen with whatever else she can get completed by then. Sure, a lot of the professors and students hate her but who cares about them. They’re just mortals.

He looks at her like she’s one of those dogs in the ASPCA commercials, “She should be there for you and you should’ve had a father. It’s her fault you grew up like you did.”

No she was stolen, everyone knows that, “I’m fine with just me and you and the people here. Plus Chiron because he’s the best. You and everyone else are all I need.” And Cas will protect them until her last breath. It’s why she’s learning and learning no matter how much everyone tells her to slow down. She’ll keep going until she can protect them just as well as any of the stronger demigods. 

“Cassie, that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve better than this. This hiding and running and fighting. It’s not fair. The gods shou-” Uh oh. Nope.

Shut up, pretty boy.

“Don’t finish that sentence.” Cas’s eyes shoot skyward as if Zeus himself will strike them down for speaking against Olympus. She relaxes when there’s no thunder, “Luke, you know better than to talk like that. This is the reality and we have to work to make it better. The gods are the gods. They aren’t going to walk you through life.”

Great. He’s angry now but really it’s dangerous to talk like that. It may not be fair but the gods are quick to get angry too and their anger is a lot more dangerous.

“Come on, Pretty Boy.” She tries for a smile to lighten the mood, “I’m here on Winter Break. I want to spend good times with you and Annabeth and the others. Not fight over what we can’t change.” The gods won’t change but the way the demigods face the world can. “And we’ve got that trip to Olympus to look forward to.”

She watches Luke make a visible effort to compose himself, “You’re right, sorry. But do you have to call me that?” There’s that grin that makes the other girls swoon. If only they spent more time with this sock stealing, hair dying monster then they’d realize….

“Of course, Silena says it’s what all the Aphrodite campers call you and it makes Annabeth do the chipmunk thing. You know, I think she’s jealous.” She laughs at the gagging face he makes and Cas thinks he’s the only one completely unaware of her almost sister’s crush.

“Gross,” He pulls a face as he mops sweat from his brow, “I regret introducing you to Silena.” Oh, he should. Cas had no idea this girly stuff would be so much fun. And Silena enjoys having a receptive student. “Annabeth is like my sister.” 

Cas knows and so does everyone else….except Annabeth.

**~~~**

_ June 15 2011 _

_ Post Fancy Party and Ready to Go to Bed _

Cas eagerly rips the shoes off of her feet as Happy pulls the car onto the blessedly empty freeway. It’s not that her feet hurt all that bad but it’s a trigger for her brain that she can relax. And she does, she melts right into that cushy car seat. It’s a recent development that she picked up from Pepper over the past couple of months.

Sigh.

“Cassie,” Pepper sounds just as exhausted, “You didn’t have to turn your birthday into a charity event like this. We could have had it separate.” And make her go to two parties like this? No way, she wants to go to New York for the real celebration of surviving another year. The less time Cas has to spend surrounded by modern Rockefellers and Morgans the better. (She used this in argument...Pepper had the great joy to inform her that Cassandra is in fact a modern Rockefeller/Morgan. She did not sulk and there is no footage.)

Of course, Pepper doesn’t need to be reminded of that fact, “I don’t mind. Let all of the hanger-ons show up to gape at the new Stark heiress and while they’re at it they can cut a check because peer pressure.” She’s been Dr. Cassandra Stark to the public for around three months now and people are still hovering around waiting for her to do something stupid.

Ha.

The problem is she gets her stupid out killing the monsters chasing her fellow demigods.

And the public doesn’t really know about that.

Yet. Those plans are still in the preliminary stages but progress is being made. For example, Chiron managed to convince twenty seven demigods, actual adult demigods, to come back to NY from across the country. The oldest one is a thirty seven years old child of Glaucus which is just wow. He’s the oldest Greek demigod she’s ever spoken to other than Daedalus and she really looks forward to meeting him in person once she heads to NY.

“Besides, I’m ditching you chumps for the freedom of the Big Apple.” Home sweet home. Don’t misunderstand her though, Cas has come to love LA and Malibu where she has spent the last months of her life but New York and Long Island are home. The plan is that she’ll be there for a while since the preliminary construction has occurred for Stark Tower and they want someone nearby to oversee things. With the security revamp done by Happy (he really needs to cool it on the badges) there’s no concern over Stane sympathizers or Shield leaks anymore but….NY is far away. If she’s there it’s easy to remind everyone(Shield) that they’re keeping a closer eye on things now.

“Chumps? I take offense to that.” Uh Huh, sure he does.

“You take excessive offense to every minor insult, old man.” But she wouldn’t have her father any other way.

“My fragile ego literally cannot handle this assault. I’m not old, we've been over this.” Her father, the king of humility.

“And I’m not a kid. It’s a stalemate, old man, I’ll yield when you do.”

Once her father accepted his identity as a father he came to the conclusion that being called old man by her was no longer okay...she’ll stop once he stops calling her kid. There’s unlikely to be a compromise on this.

She won’t lose and he’s stubborn.

“Whatever.” He veers off, “And we could have had your big twenty two bash here.” This is a repeated conversation, “I can easily fly your minigod friends over.” And she shall respond in the same way.

“You could, but some of them can’t fly safely,” Percy is still on Zeus’s no fly list and he’s saved Olympus twice, “Some of the kids are a bit young to be transported so publicly, and it’s the summer solstice. It’s an important day. I need to be there.” It’s her birthday but it’s also practically ancient Greek New Year. She’s got a very busy summer ahead of her. Unprecedented Camp Half-Blood numbers, Stark Tower, and Lamark High-Rise (they named it after a peaceful city for heroes) are three of the many things to take care of.

Her father descends into some passive-aggressive reasoning on how he is perfectly capable of giving her a greek-respecting demigod party for her twenty second. She tunes it out because the whining is repetitive even if she understands that they’re both trying to catch up on all that they’ve missed out on.

And her father over commits to everything once he gets going. Pepper’s birthday present will live on in infamy even though Cas helped make it vanish.

Cas shifts her attention to her phone and prepares to ride it out. She’s just pulled up a Twitter feed from some campers when…

_ Danger! _

Her head snaps up, “Happy! Hit the-”

When Cassandra first arrived at Camp Half-Blood she was already very well trained in self control and discipline, so the first time she saw some of the other campers fidgeting and failing to channel what they called ADHD she was confused. It’s just a way to focus on what’s important, it only takes practice to avoid distractions from the primary goal.

Long story short, Cas’s world cuts to the exact instant that the other car smashes into the side of the one her family is in. She’s able to grab Pepper, who is closest to her, and absorb most of the impact as well as come to two very important conclusions.

That car came from nowhere. And this is not an accident.

Happy tries to regain control of the vehicle but they end up spinning into the central barrier. She pins Pepper and herself to the seats and her father looks stunned but she can’t make out any visible injuries. He’s conscious though so she’s hopeful that he’ll be alright.

Pepper is screaming into her ear and that is going to be ringing for a while.

“Pepper!” Cas tries to snap her out of it, “Pepper! I need you to call 911. Dad, you good?” She gets an affirmative noise and takes it as a yes. “Happy?” She gets silence and feels her pulse ramp up more than before. “Dad, stay in the car.”

She’s lucky in that it wasn’t her side of the car that ended up pinned and it’s not her side of the car that took the initial hit, so her door works. Cas is aware as she exits the car that they are telling her to come back but she was just attacked, she’s angry and wants to know what malaka tried to kill her family.

The car that hit them is nondescript, uninteresting, forgettable and a laundry list of other useless accolades. It’s also smashed to hell because this is her father’s town car and it’s got some not so common upgrades.

She approaches cautiously because she doesn’t know what she’s about to find but she knows she won’t like it. Through the driver’s side window and passed the very smashed front end Cas can see the silhouette of the driver against the steering wheel, but she can’t make out anyone else in the car nor can she detect any movement.

Gods, this is a stupid idea but she needs to know despite the aching dread creeping up her spine. 

When she rips the door open using more force than a mortal could ever hope to replicate she nearly gags. Cas has seen some shit. She’s been to Tartarus and she’s seen a field of dead comrades but this dead man’s face is smashed in. There’s exactly zero ounces of pity for the malaka that tried to run them off the road but she has no desire to see the inside of a forehead. Guess the airbag failed to deploy.

Ha.

Sucks for this guy.

She hears her father coming up behind her, “I told you to stay in the car.”

“Pretty sure that’s my line.”

Fair. “We don’t exactly qualify for social norms. This guy is very dead by the way, if you're squeamish for that sort of thing.”

“Huh,” A quick look over her shoulder shows her that her father is moving alright but she’s going to need Jarvis to give him a once over to feel comfortable, “Cops are on the way. Happy’s awake. You recognize this guy?”

Does she recognize this deadman?

There’s something there so she refocuses on the driver's seat in front of her, “No...but there’s…”  _ Focus! Look closer! Threat! _

She sees it on his forearm that’s still draped across the steering wheel. Cas should have seen it immediately but she didn’t.  _ Magic  _ ...is the answer that her mind supplies. The rest of her mind though….

Of course.

Of course this happens.

Of course it’s them when she finally gets started on building a life outside of fighting monsters and serving the gods.

On the deadman’s forearm is a tattoo that she hasn’t seen in almost ten years. She never wanted to see it again. A snake consuming its tail. Ouroboros, and highly stylized. This isn’t someone that saw a pretty picture in a museum and brought it to some corner tattoo parlor.

This is a membership badge.

Oh gods.

They’re supposed to be gone. They’ve been gone. They should have just stayed away.

“Cassandra!” Her father must have been calling her for a while if he’s using her full name.

“They’re back…” She can barely make herself say it.

“Kid, you’re freaking me out. Who’s back?”

Is this real? 

Is she hallucinating? Dreaming? Maybe she’s unconscious in the back seat of the car from the crash.

“It’s them. It’s the cultists. Alexander’s followers…” Her father isn’t one to curse often unless the situation truly calls for it. He told her it has to do with her grandmother and the original Jarvis but his sharply hissed ‘shit’ is enough to pull her back to the present. 

Because yes, the cult of Alexander is back from the hole that they’ve buried themselves in for the last decade but her family is here. They were in the car with her. These maniacs and zealots tried to run her family off of the road so that they could….what? Kill her? Recapture her? Why now?

She shoves herself away from the wreck violently and the whole thing shifts away where she pushed it. Whatever. The slight discomfort she notes in her feet reminds her that she’s pacing a California freeway in the middle of the night in formal evening wear without shoes. That sums up so much of her current experience.

Okay. Let’s see what the mortals can find. She’d wager not much. “Come on, let’s get back”. 

~~~

Cas has traded pacing the freeway for her father’s living room. Police and paramedics showed up to pronounce the driver very dead and told them to go home. It’s not surprising. Sure, Happy took a knock on the head but he was only stunned and is now diagnosed with a mild concussion. Cas has been given full permission to drag his ass to an emergency room if he starts displaying anything more serious like slurred speech or vomiting but that’s unlikely given which car they were attacked in. Other than bruises, not on Cas, everyone is fine.

It was an attack. The police can call it a drunk driving accident all they want, it wasn’t. The incredulous looks on her mortals’ faces was hilarious even as she panicked over the further evidence that magic is involved. The Mist really worked overtime to get the cops to draw that conclusion; it’s like when they called Percy a terrorist. Those were simpler times.

The car hit them at a 90 degree angle on a six lane road hard enough to make Happy lose control and spin into the central barrier. The math doesn’t follow that kind of acceleration in the vanilla suburban car that pancaked itself against their vehicle. Especially not over such a short distance. Her father knows it from the way he stared at the car in question and even if they don’t consciously realize it, Happy and Pepper know that something is wrong with what happened tonight other than someone trying to kidnap(?) her.

“Who was that?” Pepper asks and she doesn’t want to answer. They were attacked by Cas’s past and that’s on her but she doesn’t want them to know. She doesn’t want anyone to ever know. Luke knew, Chiron knows, but even Annabeth who for all intents and purposes is Cas’s younger sister doesn’t know everything about them...about Elias.

Gods, but they’ve been dragged into this so they deserve something for being attacked, “The Cult of Alexander are worshipers of the ideals of Alexander the Great who tried to unite the world through conquest under Olympian ideals.” The old Olympian ideals of might makes right while stomping all over the advancements that the Persian empire was making at the time. He did spread hellenism and revitalize Greek culture in one of the largest empires ever known but he focused on growth but not on stabilizing his territory. It fell apart at the seams after his death because he lacked a clearly defined line of succession. One might say he hyperfixated on his goal of pushing to ‘the ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea’ because, “He’s also my half-brother.”

Who better to continue the legacy of one of the world’s ‘greatest’ military commanders and strategists than his sister? She flourished under the cults tutelage for years until they showed their true colors and….well she got to Camp Half-Blood eventually and learned how to fit in with real people. It took a while but she can’t say she isn’t happy with the results.

“Your half-” Her father recovers first, “They took you to what? Recreate him and take over the world?” That’s the gist.

But, “It didn’t really work. We’re here and I was never really what they wanted.” Even as she advanced faster than any normal human child, they said she was too much. Too many questions, too stubborn, too impatient, too talkative. Funny, Chiron never minded and neither did the other demigods after she stopped acting like an entitled brat.

“But why now?” He has a point, “You’ve been here for almost a year.” Two more months, “There’s nothing about the way you live that suggests you’ve been hiding.”

All true, which means, “The big hello to Cassandra Stark might have given them a clue.” Whatever, “I think….I think that I was always going to have to do this.” And now here comes the hard part because she has to convince everyone to back up because she knows this problem and it’s hers.

“No,” That is not the voice she was expecting to argue with her.

“Pepper…” There are bruises forming on her arms where Cas grabbed her and she’s trying not to stare but she didn’t think she squeezed that hard.

“Cassandra Stark,” She freezes, “You are not dealing with this on your own.” Cas has come to the conclusion over the past several months that Pepper Potts has superpowers of her own. Particularly in the field of corralling people with the name Stark. A simple look around the room tells her that the moment she tries to run she’s going to end up chased down by Iron Man.

Malaka, “They were in Connecticut when I got away.” That’s the only starting point that she currently has to work with.

“Connecticut?” Happy is not the only one confused by that but he is the only one to voice it.

Honestly, it’s the only location that makes any kind of sense, “Macedon is North of Greece.” If NYC and Long Island are now Greece then directly North would be Connecticut. The place is called America’s Country Club on occasion...obviously it’s a great location to start a global conquest. It’s not, it’s really not and she has as many fond memories of it as she does of Rome which is to say none at all.

Is it fair to apply her dislike of a group of people to an entire state? No, not at all but she doesn’t want to go back there ever again and hopefully she won’t have to.

“Then you take the jet to NY in the morning.” What? Then she’s going by herself? “Tony can take the suit.” Her father at least can defend himself but Happy and Pepper can’t fight this kind of threat. Also Happy is concussed. She’s glad that Pepper and Happy realize that and yet bringing her father in isn’t exactly appealing.

She hangs her head in her hands and collapses on the couch, “This isn’t what I had in mind when I said I’d try to work with you, old man.”

A warm hand lands heavily on her shoulder, “Tough luck, kiddo, I offered to help with these cultists before I hired you.” Yeah, he did.

~~~

By morning she’s largely accepted that she doesn’t get to go one woman army on her former...keepers(?). The panic has died down and everyone is okay so she can view the situation objectively. It’s not like the trip requires any sort of explanation either because it really is almost her birthday and Tony Stark does what he wants. Spontaneously flying across the country with his daughter to her home state for her twenty second birthday isn't strange. This is assuming that someone even manages to catch a glimpse of Iron Man out pacing fighter jets while crossing the country.

Cas informed Chiron because it’s in his neck of the woods and she doesn’t know if the cult will go after anyone else to get to her. Gods, this is a wild one but after dealing with the zombies over the winter….yeah, she can’t expect the bad guys to have chivalry or gentlemanly manners. Of course, rather than just tell the demigods that they need to be careful because there might be evil magic wielders in the NY tristate area, he tells them she’s been specifically targeted. Which she has, but she didn’t want anyone to know, Stupid Horseman. She’s going back to calling him Santaur. Her phone won’t stop going off.

Careful observation of the adultier adults in her life reveals that none of them slept properly even with Jarvis all over the property security. It’s been well upgraded to prevent outside tampering. Never again will there be a surprise visitor to this house, they made sure when she first moved in….yeah, her father kind of goes overboard when he commits to something. She shouldn’t be surprised given her own history. But he didn’t lighten the security parameters even after she moved to a nice reasonably secured apartment closer to SI, something to do with Obidiah Stane and Cas hopes that he’s enjoying his sentence in the Fields of Punishment. Anyway, her apartment is safe enough that if Cas had been alone yesterday she may have bolted for there the moment that the police let her leave the accident.

Probably for the best that she didn’t, it saves her the embarrassment of literally being picked up by Iron Man.


	20. Kicking a Hornets Nest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [1] khaire: a greeting in ancient Greek and sort of an archaic that is used occasionally in modern times usually in formal situations or stylistically. I read that sometimes people will use it specifically when addressing an elder or a respected individual but I don't know if this is a by region thing. Anyway, Cas uses it as a bit of a pun because demigods can understand and use ancient Greek but also because Nike is usually subordinate to Athena.
> 
> GUYS!!!! I finished writing this on Wednesday and it came in to 98k. I started on the intro to Avengers so hopefully by the time we get there I'll be able to a 20-25k bulk update and then stick to biweekly.

_ June 2006 _

_ Camp Half-Blood, LI, NY _

Cas finds the proud war daughter crouched behind a tree but waits for Clarisse to get herself together and notice her. It wouldn’t be a smart move to startle a daughter of Ares especially if she’s just been crying.

“What do you want?” She’s been noticed. Yay.

“I wanted to congratulate you on being chosen for the quest.” It wasn’t really on merit because Tantalus is a malaka but the choice itself….Cas has a good feeling about it. Something good can come of this. Before Chiron was sent away they’d been practicing feeling out her goals intentionally and she’s really getting the hang of it. With her current goal being to save the magical pine tree keeping them safe, it’s pretty easy to see where she needs to go.

Clarisse rises to her full height which is quite a few inches taller than Cas. Quite a few….gees the girl’s going to be six feet soon. 

“Are you making fun of me, Owl Chaser?” 10/10 for that insult. It covers her being a daughter of Nike favoring Athena’s cabin and ties Annabeth in there too. And people call the Ares campers stupid….

“Nope. Actually, I wanted to offer to help.” A quest like this shouldn’t be carried by one person alone even if Clarisse can throw a boulder as easily as a discus at sixteen. Also, Cas has no intention of letting her go alone into the Sea of Monsters. It took Odysseus years to cross it and they don’t have that kind of time.

Clarisse looks at her like she’s insane and she probably is. Inviting herself onto a quest like this isn’t her smartest plan but last year her best friend betrayed the camp and if her suspicions are correct….Luke probably hurt Thalia’s tree too which is just…. That’s all kinds of wrong. Thalia saved his and Annabeth’s life so why would he do that? She owes it to Annabeth and the other campers to try and clean this up. It’s her fault for not realizing that something was wrong with Luke.

In the time that Cas was in her thoughts Clarisse recovered, “I don’t need help.” Yes, yes you do. The whole camp is at risk for this and Cas refuses to leave the fate of her home in the hands of one person. But she’s been working on her rhetoric like Chiron taught her.

“I know that.” Maybe not a lie, Clarisse can maybe do this alone but it’s high risk, “But that doesn’t mean I can’t make it easier.”

“Why?” Such suspicion. Cas would be insulted if this wasn’t their first one on one conversation. Their group interactions usually don’t end well either since she typically stands with the Athena campers or Hermes or Hephaestus or Aphrodite….really just rarely does she side with the Ares cabin. She should work on that but she’s here right now.

“War and victory go together.” She holds out her hand, “What do you say? Ares and Nike work together sometimes too, you know.”

Cas smiles when Clarisse takes her hand.

To new partnerships.

~~~

_ June 16, 2011 _

_ Malibu, California in her father’s fancy estate _

Cas doesn’t do anything other than groan and plant her forehead on the kitchen island when her phone continuously goes off with rapid fire messages. She informed a controlled group of people, namely Chiron, Annabeth, and Percy because they’re all in the know. (Percy has a baby sister. He can’t help but he deserves a warning.) And yet, there's a message from Travis and Connor pledging the Hermes cabin to her aid which she really doesn’t need. It’s fairly simple to imagine how far down hill it goes from there.

The car ride is to the airport far less interesting than the previous one. The flight is tense and boring too but she was smart enough to sleep during most of it. Not only does it help pass the time but it helps her avoid any more questions from her father as he flies himself to one of his holdings. It’s a good thing in her eyes because the last car ride was a bit of a doozie and she has a lot to do on her phone right now because this is not a call to arms and, oh gods who told Clarisse? Cas is making a B-Line for Lamark High-Rises when they arrive simply to stave off concerns and hopefully her floor is finished. She hasn't seen it but she trusts Annabeth and whoever she put on the interior to do a good job.

Her phone is still being ridiculous because there are quite a few baby demigods that want to get involved with this, likely riding the high of having thoroughly defeated Nero months prior. No. Cas doesn’t care about her double standards. She will not risk kids for her personal problems. Everyone knows that crazy people had her before she got to Camp Half-Blood, they just don’t know the details and that’s how it’s going to stay. Long story short, Cas is using the most forceful language she can short of outright swearing to make everyone stay out of this. Actually….thank the gods that Clarisse and Annabeth are in town and in full command of their mental faculties. She can work with them on this.

Mostly.

The arrival at the airport was only moderately strange because obviously Iron Man beat her there by a large margin and her father is already in the SUV he got. The drive to the NY demigod residences is dull as well which only serves to put Cas further on edge. There had been some minor debating to use her father’s usual hotel but well, magic….typical mortal hotel security is not going to cut it against people of this caliber. Is she overestimating her opponent? Is she underestimating them? Cas doesn’t actually know but since she can’t get her father into Camp Half-Blood she can get him into the next best thing.

What she can say for certain is that she relaxed so much when she stepped out of the car and heard that familiar voice, “Cas!” Because now she can get to work with her almost-sister.

“Khaire, Star-Girl.”[1] Because she’s making that stick no matter the circumstances. Then she’s hugging Annabeth and she knows that she’s going to win this because Athena and Nike go hand in hand. She turns without fully releasing Annabeth, “Dad, this is Blondie, Daughter of Athena, not to be confused with Blondie the singer-songwriter.”

Next to her Annabeth sighs, “ Kèpfos.” Stupid? Her? 

“Love you, too.” She says even as Annabeth shoves her away to go actually introduce herself.

“I’m Annabeth Chase.” As always Annabeth opens with unbridled confidence that dances the border of hubris. She holds out her hand for her father to shake and Cas is surprised when her father doesn’t respond reluctantly.

“Chase?” Her father says, “You’re the future architect.” Cas may have bragged about her awesome sister during lab binges lasting longer than twelve hours.

“I’m already an architect.” Accurate, the camp and Olympus look amazing after Annabeth got her hands on the plans, “It’s only the mortals that say I need a degree.” She steps back and points behind her. “Let’s get you all inside.” Yes, let’s. She doesn’t know if he took note or if the Mist still clings to her father’s senses but there are Satyrs milling around the area and judging by the tinkling necklaces she sees sporadically there are some demigods as well. She heard that there are plans for some gardens on one floor or another so there might be some dryads soon too.

This is amazing and it’s too bad that she can’t enjoy it more. She will later but for now falls in next to her father while Annabeth leads the way in. “How many not-human people are here right now?” Her father casually states while walking up the stairs.

“Oh,” That’s convenient, “You can see them. Cool.” He doesn’t look reassured by her nonanswer but Cas freezes in the lobby before she can elaborate, “What is that?” Let her be hallucinating. Please.

“Wow,” Her father on the other hand has found something to enjoy, “That is surprisingly accurate.” And proceeds to walk on up to the eight foot marble statue of Iron Man in the lobby of the very Greek inspired building.

Cas tries to intimidate an answer out of Annabeth but that’s never worked, “What did you expect?” Not an actual statue, “We have this building because of him,” That is not a good enough reason, “This is demigod-proof off campus housing. Everyone that’s not trying to go to New Rome wants to move in.” Okay, fair. That’s probably a lot of people because yes, demigods want to branch out but not everyone is keen on California or taking the risk of fending for themselves like Clarisse in Arizona. 

There’s plenty of colleges and opportunities to choose from just in Manhattan, too. Also, SI is moving here and, “Oh gods, I’m turning NYC into a polis.”

Annabeth just looks at her like she’s a moron and maybe kèpfos really does apply to her, “And you’re only just realizing this. Cas, we named this building after a peaceful city for heroes.” She should have seen this one coming, “The hope is that if we fill the area with enough demigods then the monsters will decide that it’s not worth the effort.”

Cas was not involved in that bit of planning but she is all for the Greeks banding together without her direct involvement. Her goal has only been to give them the opportunity to advance as safely as they can and if this is how they want to do it….awesome. Based on the interior and familiar weight of magic there are some Hecate touched methods of security to supplement the state of the art ones Cas provided. Powerful spells designed for the long term.

Her father wanders back over with a self satisfied smile on his face, “I think I’m going to get one.” No.

“Not happening, old man.” She turns a glare on Annabeth to impress this fact on her but her dear sister just smiles and Cas feels fear. There is no need for the statue at his mansion that is already brimming with Iron Man fanart.

“It’s going out front on the roundabout,” He must mean the driveway, “Maybe a fountain too.”

“Why? In case someone forgets whose house it is?” She’s so, so done, “You’re not getting a statue of yourself.” One is plenty and she’s going to have to see it everyday after she moves in.

They continue bickering as Annabeth leads the way to the elevator and Cas notices that she’s making not so subtle glances at her father’s chest. She’s probably trying to see the arc reactor that Cas has been raving about at every opportunity. Not that she will since he father never has it visible in public unless he’s in the suit.

Annabeth gives up and decides to get down to business instead, “Clarisse will be meeting us here later.” 

“Good. The three of us-” He father shifts to give her a look….gods why can everyone do that? “The four of us will be more than enough.” She takes a moment to think about the implications of saying that outloud after her father has just seen a statue of himself in the lobby. Whatever, she counts her father as a hero in her head even if he’s not a Greek hero.

And Annabeth hits her with that grey eyed glare she perfected by the age of twelve, “Cas…” Let it be known that Cas is not afraid of the person she views as a younger sister but that tone of voice works infinitely better on her than what Jason can summon.

“We’re not involving the whole camp, Blondie.” That would be both high-risk and overkill, “I want to chase them back into their holes, not hand deliver them to Hades.” They pray to the old gods and have access to magic therefore these don’t qualify as ordinary mortals. Meaning, they fall under the category of ‘use appropriate force’ not ‘don’t harm unless you have a very good excuse.’ Doesn’t mean that she wouldn’t prefer to avoid unnecessary death if possible.

“Yes, then they can come back in another ten years.” There’s no need for Annabeth to sound so skeptical. She’s well aware of the effectiveness of a Cassandra plan, Annabeth was involved in setting the box of mechanical squeaking mice on the Ares cabin.

They really shouldn’t have sabotaged the Hermes cabin’s armor when Cas was at the camp.

Anyway, “When we’re done they won’t be in a place to try any of this for a long time.” She grins. Life currently sucks and an old enemy that she thought was long gone is after her but at least she’s….the elevator doors open in front of her. Wow. “Annabeth, you’ve outdone yourself.” They can take up the heavy topics again later because she has a new environment to explore.

It’s open, bright, with smatterings of that blue that can only be described as Greek and marble like the rest of the building along with photo highlights of their lives. One of her recent favorites is a shot of Cas sitting on Annabeth’s shoulders in front of the Athena Parthenos. They wanted to recreate it with them standing in for their mothers but Cas can’t exactly fit in Annabeth’s palm. There’s also group shots everywhere one in particular looks like it’s from 2003 with Luke, Charlie, Silena, and Cas by the lake….good times.

“I just had them put in what you told me,” Nah. This is so much better, “Even though you never sent me anything for the kitchen or the master bedroom, so I did it my way.” She honestly forgot she needed to give input on that so….

“What do I need those for?” Can’t let on that she sort of forgot, this is why no one thinks she can keep herself alive, “I have neighbors for food and anywhere is a bed if you’re tired enough.” The smack to the back of her head tells her that Annabeth does not agree and she’s always been one of the people that would dig Cas out of whatever work binge she lost herself in. She has zero sympathy for Cas’s bad habits at this point in her life.

Her father is making some rounds with his hands in his pockets while Annabeth steps out to chase (ha-ha) away any stray demigods that might try to get involved. Cas would do it but she’d feel bad and she kind of needs to talk to her dad a bit. There’s a lot of stuff here and it’s all distinctly her because Annabeth knows Cas better than her father does. It stinks but they have time since they’re still regrouping after the car accident.

“Do you want some of them?” She says as she makes her way to the kitchen. This space is so open and the only way it could be any better is if her shiny fridge is stocked. Guess what? It is because Annabeth is the best. There’s a whole shelf of deli sandwiches from a place she loves on 33rd St. It may sound wasteful but Cas can and will eat all of them before they go bad.

“Some of what?” He’s still moving around behind her while she digs out a roast beef and muenster sandwich. Thank the gods because she’s hungry. Long flight. He picks something up and puts it back down.

“Or not,” She doesn’t want to be weird, “Some of the photos have satyrs and nymphs in them but others are just demigods so you can’t exactly tell that we’re….” She trails off because she’s being weird again. This is not a good time to offer her father an old picture for his desk.

Luckily he lets the topic drop so he’s probably not interested, “That Annabeth is something.” He casts a glance around the room because obviously he’s impressed by this. It’s still low tech compared to LA but Cas asked to be in charge of all of that for herself.

And Cas will always happily brag about her sister, “Yeah, she’s really talented. She redesigned and organized Camp Half-Blood after Kronos fell.” It was partially to distract herself from Luke’s death but that doesn’t take away from how amazing it is.

“Huh,” That’s right, be amazed, “How long does it take to become an architect?” 

Ummm…. “I think it’s a minimum of five years? Maybe?” Which is dumb since Annabeth has been studying this stuff all her life but she needs a paper from a university to do it everywhere. Well, if it’s good enough for Olympus it should be good enough for everyone. “Also, there’s a license.” She thinks.

“That’s a waste of her time.”

That’s what Cas has been saying!

~~~

Cas doesn’t know how she did it but there are no demigods currently trying to build a perimeter around the building. Then again, it’s Annabeth. She’s been at Camp Half-Blood even longer than Cas has and she’ll be getting bead number nine at the end of the summer. Gods, she’s getting old. Anyway, Annabeth has a different sort of pull than Cas has given her level of seniority and her mother. Athena is highly respected unlike Minerva.

Annabeth sits down in the spacious modern living room(? Sure that thing) and proceeds to question Cas about whether or not she actually has a plan yet and more than just an inkling of an idea.

“I’m feeling so attacked right now.”

“Deal with it, how are you going to find them?”

The worst part is that her father is enjoying this too, “Aren’t you supposed to be some kind of long term thinker?” Okay, yes, that is true.

However, “See, I haven’t actually got anything more than I need to be here.” The disapproval is heavy, “But,” She holds up a hand before Annabeth attacks, “I am certain that you’re integral in this working and so are dad and Clarisse.” She just doesn’t have any detailed steps worked out even if she is starting to get twitchy about being here.

From across the room her father decides to be unhelpful, “That’s not exactly a plan, kid.” He pauses for a beat, “Can you even work an espresso maker?” She has an espresso machine? Annabeth is the greatest sister ever and her birthday present will be epic this July.

“Thank you, old man, for the oh so helpful commentary. Do you have any suggestions?” Because if he’s going to poke at her new stuff then he should contribute to the conversation.

“You’re the one who said that the bag guys are in Connecticut.” Right, she should probably correct that assumption.

“Nope, I said they were in Connecticut when I got away.” Not the same, “And when I met my mother she promised that I never needed to go back there.” Good riddance. That had been….a day and she hadn’t really understood everything her mother had to tell her at the time other than she had ‘grown so strong’ and that she never needed to go back to the Cult again.

Annabeth just rolls her eyes, “You have no clue where they are.” It’s not a question so Cas just lets that statement float around the room.

And her father seems to have grasp what that means, “Then why are we in NYC?”

“Yes Cassie,” When Annabeth calls her Cassie it’s rarely an endearment, “Why did you drag the mortal to NY?” Obviously, she’s less than impressed with the admittedly cavalier attitude Cas has chosen to approach this problem with but the other option is rage and tunnel-visioned anger so cavalier is the better choice.

When she catches them then she can be angry at the people who could have killed her family but for now she’s drawing on every single one of Chiron’s lessons in order to not fly off the handle and try to take them all on by herself. This is mostly accomplished by reminding herself that she doesn’t know how many there are or where they are. There’s another part of her brain that whispers that she got away when she was twelve so now at twenty one she can ruin them.

She’s calling that unhelpful voice hubris and she will be ignoring it.

Cas sits back and hides behind her hand, “Since doing this myself isn’t an option,” There’s a chorus reminding her of that, “This was the safest place to plan I could think of and I wanted your help, Star-girl.” A building full of mythological creatures and trained demigods is definitely a good base of operations for whatever this is. “Also, it felt like a good idea at the time to come here after Pepper suggested it.” Wait….Annabeth’s help specifically. That could work.

She’s feeling guilty again, which is ridiculous because she knows that only Annabeth can help her with this. So since they’re already looking at her like she’s missing a few brain cells she asks, “Do you have your hat?” Cas wants to go for a walk but going by herself is a nope and her father isn’t currently capable of invisibility.

“Always,” Demigods are more prepared than boy scouts, “Where are we going?”

“Not far really.” Cas just needs to move….it’s a pressing need at this point, “More like a walk and I want backup.” She looks at her father then, “This is not me ditching you but you don’t have the baseball cap of invisibility.”

And her father is not exactly leaping for joy at the idea, “I’m really hoping that your great plan is not to wander NYC hoping that someone tries to attack you and I refuse to think about invisibility caps right now.” Ha, well at least he’s still taking all of this like a champ.

There’s guilt involved for benching him but Cas cannot deny the instinct that is telling her to  _ Go, “ _ Nah.”

“Oh good, had me worried there-”

“I want to have a walk around but going alone would be stupid so I’m taking Annabeth. It’s a starting point. Also, no one will attack me in broad daylight in public,” She hopes. Her father will be safe here though and she can’t forget, “I kind of need someone here for when Clarisse arrives too. She has all the subtlety of a stampeding bull elephant.” Annabeth snorts in agreement.

Her father just sighs and she waits expectantly, “And this is the same Clarisse that killed a giant poison spewing lizard and then challenged Kronos to a grudge match.” She doesn’t dispute it because that really covers Clarisse as a person, “Don’t turn off your phone or I’m telling Pepper.” 

And then her mood drops, “Not that I was planning to but that’s too far, old man.”

He just stares then says, “Santa Barbara,” And okay that’s fair.

Annabeth chooses that moment to interject, “Mr. Stark, are you sure that you weren’t secretly raising her?” Cas just hits her with a throw pillow because that was rude but Annabeth just brushes it off, “Come on, we’ve got maybe an hour and half before Clarisse.” Hmmm….should be enough time.

“Right,” She stands and pats herself down absently checking for the essentials of phone and wallet, “Stay out of my room,” She ignores Annabeth’s mumbled ‘you’ve never been in your room’ and continues, “Don’t stare at a Satyr’s horns and assume any hall plants are dryads.” Because there’s no way her father is going to sit and wait when there’s new stuff around.

  
  


~~~

She doesn’t know what she’s expecting to find exactly or even what she’s looking for. Her goal is to find the Cult of Alexander but that’s too broad to be solved by walking down the street. There’s not going to be a sign reading the Church of Alexander or anything like that but….but something. It’s a relief to know that Annabeth is behind her though even if she is hidden.

_ “Other than mindless walking, do you have any idea where we’re going?”  _ Annabeth says from the phone. They need to communicate somehow so an unobtrusive earpiece works just fine.

“Nope,” She dodges around an old man with groceries, “Sorry I don’t have any prophetic nightmares to give me hints.”

_ “You get hints in real time,”  _ That’s fair,  _ “If you got demigod dreams too you’d be overpowered.”  _ It’s a blessing and a curse that Cas doesn’t get the occasional dream from the Fates. She gets to settle for the nightmares her own mind comes up with instead and it has a large sample pool to draw from.

“Overpowered? Can we talk about your boyfriend for a second?” She speeds up in a crosswalk before the light changes, “Or Frank?” What is it about Poseidon’s line and being scary powerful demigods? “Or Jason? Or Nico? Or Hazel?”

_ “Can we talk about how the Greek demigods all trust your judgement and have now migrated into the city?” _

That pulls her up short, “Everyone agreed to that.”

_ “Because you promised that it could work.”  _ That’s scary to think about.

“Subject change please.”

She hears Annabeth sigh through the phone,  _ “It’s not a bad thing Cas, you earned it.”  _ When she doesn’t answer Annabeth continues,  _ “If we had a problem with your methods we’d call you out but it’s been a long few years and we’re all tired of hiding and fighting.”  _ Very true,  _ “We like your plan, Stategos, so we took it further.”  _ Further she calls it.

“Stop it, baby sis, you’re making me blush.” Please, Blondie, change the subject.

_ “Fine, but you know I’m right.” _

“Whatever you say, Star-Girl.”

When the Romans picked a location to plan the invasion of Long Island they didn’t shy away from Manhattan pricing. No, Cas paid a pretty penny (technically it was her father but he gave her a blank check which went to a good cause) for the building in the Upper East Side. From there the Romans could easily have coordinated crossing the East River via ferry or one of Manhattan’s many tunnels and bridges. Now it’s property of Camp Half-Blood but that’s not relevant right now, Cas’s walk led her north-east to the loud and busy John Jay park. It’s not surprising seeing as it is June and the fountains are tempting.

_ “Cas?”  _ She must have paused a moment too long for her guardian angel.

“It’s not nothing...but….”  _ Closer… _ . “I think I’ve got a better idea now.” The playgrounds sound like a good idea right now and John Jay is one of theirs (his mom is Themis) so provided that it still holds the gods’ favor it should be a relatively safe place for her to be. “I like this bench.” So she sits and pulls out her phone so it doesn’t look like she’s a creep sitting near families at play.

_ “I’m across from you.”  _ Nice.

It’s not surprising when nothing catches her eye right away.

But, this bench was not a mistake and the pleasant throng of native New Yorkers and tourists making their way through her field of view is quite relaxing. This loud park is almost a great place to think now that she has a moment to herself.

That is until  _ DANGER!DANGER!DANGER! _

Cas is too well trained to react and too well trained to panic at the fact that her instincts went from zero to six hundred in the span of a microsecond. Other than carefully putting her phone away and looking around the space from behind the safety of her sunglasses she does nothing. Annabeth is across the way so she taps her nail on the arm rest and hopes she notices the out of character fidget.

“Hello, Cassandra.” Her head snaps to the end of the bench and she very nearly leaps up and rips the whole thing from the ground. That voice and that face….she thought he was dead but being dead didn’t stop Caligula from trying to kill her, “It’s been such a long time that I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”

How? She should have seen him coming. 

“Don’t worry. I’m not actually here, just a projection.” That is a very new skill to her and he’s acting like they’re just catching up, “When we sent Daniel with that invite for you,” Invite? The deadman wanted to lock her in a trunk. Right? “I expected you to hunt us down that night, not cower behind your birth father.” The dig gives her focus despite the confusion in her brain.

How dare he. “You’re talkative for a dead guy, and I’m not the coward here, Elias.” He looks almost exactly as she remembers, dark hair but maybe greyer than before, icy blue eyes that she can only now label as cold, aristocratic features but the ugly scar from his left temple down into his cheek reminds her of their less than amicable parting. “You came after me through mortals via a proxy.” She gave him that scar as a child. “Didn’t you call me weak once?” She can do this.

The scar prevents him from smiling properly. It’s lopsided and disconcerting but he probably likes it like that, “Oh no. You? Never. Leading the battle to hold Olympus, defeating the giants, and helping banish those Roman perversions, Cassandra, you have been brilliant.” His praise makes her doubt the worth of every decision she’s made to date. The way he talks as if he’s proud of her accomplishments makes her want to punch him in the face. “And then you out did yourself,” What? “You’ve shifted yourself into the perfect seat of power and this,” He waves around the playground, “Is your new Alexandria.” She assumes he means more than the adjacent jungle gym.

Gods, he’s insane. This is wrong. That’s not what she’s doing but she needs him to talk. Clearly, he wants her to go with him but she needs more information than that, “I am not like him.” She rejected that years ago. Cassandra Stark will never be like Alexander the Great.

“But that just isn’t true,” It is true, “As the Stark Heiress, you have influence over how many lives? Not unlike the kingdoms of antiquity.” SI employs hundreds of thousands globally but that’s not-, “And you can’t forget the sway you have over both the Greeks and the Romans.” That’s not what she’s doing! He’s twisting everything! “You could be great Cassandra. Come back with us.”

She doesn’t want that. She wants Meg McCaffrey to play in her green houses. She wants Annabeth Chase to become a global name in architecture. Cas wants to engineer wonders of the future in a lab with her father.

So she leans forward and slowly removes her sunglasses because she wants to make sure Elias sees every inflection, “Erre es korakas.” Or in modern terms, go to hell. There’s a special place in Hades for Elias and if he’s not careful she’ll send him there herself.

That horrible smile turns predatory, “Don’t think that because you’ve left them in LA those mortals are safe.” She wonders what her face looks like to the random passerby right now. Terrified? Hateful? Somewhere in between? “See you soon, Cassandra.” She blinks and it’s like he was never there.

Oh gods. 

Somewhere between thinking ‘this is all her fault’ and ‘maybe she really is like that’ Annabeth sits down where Elias was only moments beforehand. Cas has to stop herself from shouting at her to get up because she doesn’t want any kind of connection or similarity between the two of them, which is stupid because it’s just a bench.

“I wish I could’ve stabbed him with a spoon before he left.” Ha. Annabeth's angry humor is nice if a little poorly timed but she has to force the automatic reply.

“Why a spoon, cousin?” Because even if her mind is spinning that was too blatant and Annabeth was probably counting on it. Afterall, the movies that she watched with her friends back in the day are how she first started connecting with them. And Robin Hood is an awesome story.

“Because it’s dull, you twit. It’ll hurt more.” Annabeth cannot do a good Alan Rickman but she gives it her best shot. It’s enough to allow Cas to focus on Annabeth who’s known her longer than almost anyone else. “It’s not true,” She wants to believe it, “Cas, everyone at Camp Half-Blood trusts you but no one would blindly follow you.” Crazy how they were just having this conversation from another angle.

It’s true and they vote on everything. Not a single decision has been hers alone but, “I’m really good at getting everyone to do things my way.” She convinced the camp to reveal themselves to a mortal that they didn’t know and now they’re expanding into the city….

“With good reasoning.” Annabeth leans against Cas’s shoulder, “And I don’t know if you’ve looked at yourself recently but you’re more of an occasionally mad-ish scientist than a global conqueror.” 

She huffs a laugh because, “Mad-ish?”

But Annabeth is unrepentant, “You’ve never seen that face you make before you disappear for days with an idea until someone has to remind you food and water are important.” Accurate, “You would have starved to death without me. Not very intimidating.”

She clings to that knowledge. Annabeth knows her and if she’s not worried about what Cas has done then she’s fine. Right?

“Let’s go.” Annabeth takes her by the arm and drags her out of the park.

~~~

She’s a well contained spiraling mess right now. This means that when she bursts into her penthouse it’s energetic but no one can tell-except Annabeth-that she really wants to stab something. Actually, she takes that back because there is a Clarisse talking with her father right now but when she sees Cas she stands at her full and impressive six and a half feet of height.

“Clar!” She goes in for a hug that she kind of wants from her well missed, scary, poli sci major friend but she’s grabbed by the shoulder instead, “Ow!” That actually hurts a bit.

“I’ve just been talking with your dad.” Ummm….Cas glances at her father and he doesn’t look like he’s been terrified by Clarisse so that’s promising. Awesome, “And I hope you know I’m in.” She says it like it was up for debate. In the background of her mind Cas is a little concerned about what they’ve been talking about but that’s a problem for Future Cassandra.

In the present, Hades no, she’s been threatened by an unstable cultist and after talking to Annabeth during the walk back she’s accepted what this fight is. Elias being alive isn’t really all that surprising because she never tried to kill him. She left him behind in a potentially fatal situation but that’s completely different, “I know better than to argue with you, Clar.” She sighs, “Also, Annabeth and I have some….news to share with the team.”

Annabeth sighs, “That’s the word that you’re going with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thought I would do a shout out/recommendation to fics and authors that made me really want to put my own work out there. These guys are awesome and I love reading what they write.
> 
> Everything from the A List of Questions series by Izumi2
> 
> The War is Far From Over by Don't_Call_Me_Carrie
> 
> Mr. Parker Declined to Comment by Apisdn
> 
> That's all for now and there will probably be more I remember at a later date. Thanks for reading guys!!!!


	21. Deep Breath (Don't be Scared)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I forgot that in Thor, Chris Hemsworth has bleached eyebrows. I paused it and spent a solid two minutes laughing at him....
> 
> Also, I forgot about Darcy Lewis. Can you believe that? I think I'm gonna keep her. Somehow....I'll make it work because she is an underutilized gem. All of the science support are really seeing as the major focus of these movies has turned into hitting your problems until they go away. 
> 
> (whoops there's some bitterness)
> 
> That's because I wrote 30k out for the avengers recently and after having gone through the argument scene on the helicarrier line by line....man they should not have teamed up. Don't get me wrong, I love the Avengers but they should have literally only seen each other during world ending scenarios. It would have saved everyone a whole lot of time and stress.

_ September 25, 2001 _

_ Nowhere, Connecticut or something like that _

There’s something different in the air today and if Cassandra were Lycaon then she would have her hackles raised. It’s weird because all of her lessons have been canceled for the day which has never happened before and she’s a little worried about it.

Yesterday, she may or may not have hit one of her instructors too hard during a sparring session and he had to be carried away. No one said anything about it and she wasn’t chastised or given extra work but she felt really guilty when she felt his collar bone crack. It’s just….that was the best way to win the round so she did it and she did say sorry but now no one has brought it up.

The worst part is that Elias isn’t even here for her to talk to which means he’s going to hear about it from someone else...and he’s going to give her that face. It’s the ‘I’m not mad I’m just disappointed’ face that makes her feel like her height could be measured in angstroms. She really doesn’t like it especially because he won’t talk to her for hours or even days afterwards and none of the other acolytes ever really speak to her outside of lectures.

Cassandra thought that if she spent the day in the library that someone would take notice of her efforts but she was turned away at the door instead because something important is happening today. That would be helpful if she understood what that meant but the woman refused to answer any of her questions which has never happened before. So now, she’s crammed herself up in her favorite window with nothing to do because no one will speak to her and she feels….something… It’s strange and not normal but it’s not like she has anyone that she can ask about it.

“Cassandra!” Correction, she has one person to ask about it.

“Elias!” She grins down and the man, “You’re back early!” She wasn’t expecting him until next week but she drops from her seat and greets him properly.

His smile is a little bit indulgent because her slight bow was a little too excitable and jerky to be considered perfect but he doesn’t seem to mind today, “I had to come back after I heard about the incident yesterday.” The smile freezes on her face, “The reports suggested you did well up until you started apologizing.”

Oops, “I really didn’t mean to hurt him like that. It was an accident.”

He raises a brow at her, “Was it?” No… “Or did you do what you needed to do to win?” It was the second one…. Her silence speaks for her, “That’s what I thought. The next time you commit to victory do not pull back because you ‘felt bad.’”

She can’t look him in the eye as she says, “Yes, Elias.”

“Good,” He turns away from her, “Meet me in the main hall in an hour. There’s a surprise.”

She blinks curiously but he doesn’t give away anything else as he walks away.

~~~

Cassandra spends the next hour trying to figure out what the surprise could be but her mind draws a blank even as that weird feeling builds in her spine. It makes her shift uncomfortably as she walks to the main doors where she finds Elias and a few others waiting for her.

“Cassandra!” He greets with an excitement that she can’t match for some reason, “Your instructors have given me nothing but glowing reports and now I believe it’s time for you to advance.”   


Huh? “Advance?”

“Of course,” His smile softens and some of the strangeness dissipates, “After today, you will be just like you brother.” What? But, he said that she was still years off….that she still had so much to learn. What changed? “There’s just one more test.” Oh.

She’s good at those. Losing and failing aren’t exactly things that Cassandra does.

But still, it feels like she’s already being tested and that this is more of a trick, “So I succeed at whatever your surprise is and then I’ll be just like Alexander?”

There’s a tick in Elias’s brow like he always gets when she questions him but sometimes he just makes zero sense. And how is she supposed to learn if she doesn’t question what she doesn’t understand anyway? However, unlike what usually happens, he doesn’t call her out for being insolent, “Of course, Cassandra, your brother’s name means-”

“‘Protector of Man,’ I know,” She shrinks a little under his glare though.

“Yes,” He pauses like he’s waiting for her to interrupt him again but she stays silent, “And yours is ‘Helper of Man’” She knows that too, “But as a protector and helper it is necessary to use force at times, this is why you know how to fight.” And sometimes helping will not be as easy as offering a hand….she knows all of this, “When your brother fought to unite the world he did not hesitate to use whatever means necessary to ensure victory, so after today, neither will you.”

Huh.

“This way Cassandra,” He waves her forward and walks her though the now open door with a hand on her shoulder. Her stomach drops to her feet and she doesn’t know why. This is good. She’s been waiting for this, for the day Elias tells her that she’s finally good enough. The main hall is the grandest room in the facility with great vaulted ceilings and columns so wide that she can’t wrap her arms around them. It’s a ceremonial room so it’s lit the old fashioned way which she finds dumb and a waste of time for the people who have to climb around lighting braziers and torches. The tapestries look pretty in the fire light though. Usually there’s an echo she likes to mess with when she gets desperately bored but it looks like everyone is here right now. The walls are lined at least five to six people deep….

That’s not what catches her eye though.

At the end of the aisle and placed at the base of the dais is a chair and in that chair is a person with a bag over their head.

She wants to slow down and stop, to ask questions, but for some reason or another she doesn’t and Elias’s steady hand leads her across the room past the silent audience. When they reach the end Cassandra cannot take her eyes off the person in the chair because they're restrained and struggling against it. What’s going on?

Behind her Elias is addressing the room but her head is starting to pound and she can swear something is talking to her….

_ ….runrunrun _

Like an instinct? Is it the gods? Some heroes would hear them talking sometimes, maybe this is something important that she’s going to need to move for and they want her to be prepared.

“....and now it is time for the Heir of Alexander to prove her commitment.” She hears a blade slide from a sheath, poor maintenance. If it’s properly taken care of then it’s nearly silent. Not that she has time to think about it because Elias has just offered her a hunting knife. “Just like we practiced.”

What? She takes it anyway but….what is she supposed to do with it? Did she miss the instructions because she wasn’t paying attention?

No….she heard everything he said about her coming into her strength so what gives? 

“Kill him, Cassandra.” Something deep within her revolts at the very possibility of doing that.

_ Wrong!Wrong!Wrong!Wrong! _

What? “I don’t understand. Did…” She thinks it’s a man, “Did he do something wrong?” Is this a murderer or something that she’s supposed to send to Hades for judgement?

“It doesn’t matter.” It really does though, “Don’t fail here.” Her spine stiffens, “The only way forward is through this man. Alexander the Great never hesitated to cut down any in his way of his goal and neither will you.”

Oh.

Okay. She trusts Elias. He’s always been there. So Cassandra adjusts her grip and approaches the unknown man who made the mistake of being placed between her and success.

WRONG!

She nearly drops the knife in her hand which is ridiculous because she’s been handling blades since she was six years old. There’s something very wrong with this and her head hurts so bad that she might be tearing up a little.

There are mumbles reaching her from the audience, “get on with it,” “hurry up,” “coward.” And it nearly gets her but Cassandra was not taught to act at the whims of the mob. She was taught to lead and eventually….is this what that means? Is leading executing? This isn’t right. There’s something important that she’s missing and she doesn’t know what it is but she can’t act until she knows or she’s going to act wrong.

So she needs time. The blade lowers to her side, “Elias, something’s wrong. I don’t think I should do this.”

Behind her he sighs sharply and she wants to look but her eyes are still locked on the unknown man.

_ Bang! _

Cassandra drops to the ground with her hand still clutching the knife. She turns to track the source of noise but not before seeing the man’s head snap back. Her ears are ringing and her head hurts from the steady pounding of  _ runrunrunrun  _ and yet it fails to lessen the shock factor of Elias holding a gun.

_ Dangerdangerdanger _

And now that’s happening too.

“I believed you were ready. That you weren’t weak, Cassandra. But it seems you’ve failed.”

She doesn’t understand, “But he couldn’t fight back-” She didn’t fail because killing him was wrong.

“That doesn’t matter!” He never yells...She’s scared. Why is she scared? It’s Elias, “You were meant to listen but you never do.” That isn’t true but she can’t find the words to defend herself. “It’s too bad, you had such promise. We can only hope that we can overcome this loss.” And then his arm moves to aim at her and the world slows….

She’s so confused and she doesn’t understand why this is happening. Cassandra is meant to lead and help people not….not….

RUN!

She needs to get out….if she can get out she can find time she can figure out what’s happening. She just needs space but that gun is swinging towards her and Elias is kind of far.

Even if she gets past him the room is still full of people but….out of the corner of her eye she spots a brazier. She can reach that and fire makes everyone back up. 

Perfect. She doesn’t want to hurt him but he wants to  _ kill _ her….so Cassandra doesn’t hesitate to throw the knife at Elias’s face before kicking the first brazier over and running for the exit. She can feel sparks nipping at her heels as she hurtles down the aisle and registers the screaming that must be Elias. The rest of the room is too slow to follow and she makes it to the door before some thinks grabbing her might be a good idea.

It’s not. She twists the person’s wrist and kicks them into yet another source of fire. They did come in handy then….what is happening???

RUN!

And that still hasn’t let up but it’s also the same thing that warned her that Elias was going to point a gun at her (Oh gods did she kill him? She didn’t mean to. She really didn’t.)

Doesn’t matter. She can think later but for now she needs to leave. It’s not safe here and she needs to go….because a little voice said so….

Gods. Why? What did she do wrong?

~~~

_ June 16 2011 _

_ Lamark High Rise, Manhattan, New York City, NY _

It’s not particularly surprising that Cas’s little talk with a man that she considered probably dead leads to some raised voices followed by Clarisse saying, “You? Take over the world? With what? Hope and Teamwork?” Needless to say Cas feels a lot better about herself after that.

However, they need to move past the threat portion which very nearly had her dad leaping from the balcony to get to his suit. The SUV they came in is modified to help him put on the full armor but they don’t exactly know where to go yet….well Cas does but that’s why they’re having a ‘team meeting.’

“Elias was in charge of my education and oversaw all of my training early on. The baseline thinking for many of my plans and strategies are formed from what he taught me.” But she’s better now. Everything has evolved over time as she survived new encounters and challenges so while her methods might be recognizable they’re vastly improved by comparison to what she could come up with at twelve. Probably for the best because people develop strategies and counterstrategies all of the time. It’s one reason why the French plans from WWI didn’t hold up to the Germans in WWII. She’s running on a tangent, the point is Elias will see her coming but he won’t know what she’s going to do. “But because of that, I think I know where he’s relaxing tonight.” And later, much later, when this is done she can have a good freakout about all of this and call Chiron because her father doesn’t need to see that.

Her father is angry, “Why don’t you share with the rest of us mere mortals.” Yeah, he may be a little angry at her, at Elias, at everything….and it’s going to get worse. These morons threatened their people so Cas is more than happy to drop Iron Man and Clarisse on them and then watch the chaos from a safe distance with popcorn. However, the collateral damage would be unfortunate all things considered.

“He accused me of making NYC my Alexandria,” There were a few but everyone knows that the one in Egypt is special, after all Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great’s favorites, got command of Egypt and became Pharaoh. Also, he was buried there, “Said I put myself in a ‘seat of power,’ and dropped an ominous villain ‘see you soon.’”

“Oh,” Annabeth gets it, “Is it that obvious?” She nods in response because Elias likes his parallels; it's why she was taken and not another demigod. And thank the gods for that because she’d rather it was her than anyone else.

“What’s obvious?” Clarisse doesn’t get it but that’s okay. She only needs Clar to absolutely destroy any and all of Elias’s flunkies.

It’s her father that says, “There’s a cult hiding in my building,” in a resigned deadpan.

Yep, “Stark Tower is literally going to have our name on it.” Major historical parallels right there, “If it’s any consolation, he still wants me to drink the kool aid and conquer the globe so I doubt we’ll be destroying it.” And possibly roll over and die in ten years like her brother did but that’s all in the details.

The plan isn’t complicated because it doesn’t need to be, it hardly qualifies as a plan even. Since her father is limited by the simple fact that they’re in a city where he’s likely to be noticed, he’s going in last if at all. Also, it would be highly conspicuous for Iron Man to be seen wrecking his own property especially since they’re building (more like aggressively reconfiguring because there was something there it was just….old) over Grand Central Terminal. Demigods have a slightly better track history with not irreparably destroying historical monuments (See Percy Jackson vs the St. Louis Arch and compare to Iron Man vs Fair Grounds Unisphere).

She’s hoping that he doesn’t need to involve himself directly at all and would rather he helpfully disable security measures between GCT and the soon to be Stark Tower because that’s how Cas plans to get in with Clarisse and Annabeth. Then it’s as easy as moving up until they find all of the cultists and beat the stuffing out of them. Once that’s done Tony Stark gets to call the cops because his security feed got tripped by some trespassers. If anything proves to be too much for them, well Iron Man is right there, but Cas would prefer to avoid a body count in spite of Clar’s very valid argument.

“You can’t be serious.” She is, “Cas, they’re magic wielders and they pray to Olympus. We don’t have to hold back.”

It’s very true and these guys do fall under their ‘jurisdiction’ and they wouldn’t get in trouble for killing them but, “These guys are clearly insane and I don’t see that as a death sentence. Just...Use necessary force.” If it’s necessary, Cas can and will do what needs to be done but she’d rather not.

“Softie.” Valid. Then again this is the woman who thought firing on Charybdis with Civil War era cannons would be effective so….Clar prefers full throttle even if it’s not the best option. Thank the gods that she now trusts Cas’s judgement.

Annabeth pushes the planning back on track, “They worship our gods so they fall under the purview of Olympus, if needed, but how sure are you that this Elias will show.”

Ha.

“He’ll be there,” She knows he will. It’s all pomp and circumstance and waltzing in like he has a right to. She sighs because this is the part she’s been debating over, “If any of you have any problems or….concerns, please, say something now before we get moving.”

No one says anything for a moment and then Clar sighs, “I still think we should let our resident senior citizen fly in and clean it up.” She’s so friendly and welcoming.

Cas and Annabeth sigh as well but her father, yeah, “I think you’re my favorite, Ms. La Rue.” She thinks her father may be a little eager to go for blood….it’s not surprising since Iron Man isn’t exactly gentle with his enemies. However, it’s important for Cas. She needs to prove that this doesn’t have to end in killing, that it’s not weakness.

  
  


~~~

He joins her on the balcony as she’s waiting for the sun to finish setting, “Never had to plan an attack before. Especially on something I own.” Yeah, because her father doesn’t really do much in the way of battle strategy. Even when blowing up the decommissioned weapons caches (or buying them back from the government for dismantling) he tends to just find a location and then improvises from there.

“You didn’t even plan this.” Three veteran demigods of Nike, Athena, and Ares respectively did. Is it overkill? Maybe, and Cas doesn’t really think that she’s going to need her father there but the old man will not stay behind. Honestly, it’s like he’s worried about her or something which is ridiculous. Elias was a problem she got away from at twelve and she was content to leave him in the past but he came and poked the bear. (Cas is not the bear in this analogy, the bear is the demigods with her.)

“That’s not exactly inspiring a lot of confidence.” Awkward.

“Are you like….nervous? Or is it that we look like the leads of a YA dystopian novel?” Yes, Cas has read The Hunger Games and she’s also read the Giver….and mortals just crank out the craziest fantasies sometimes. It’s not subject matter that she’s fond of given the way demigods already live but there’s some weird trend going on with that mortal age bracket and she likes to know what the kiddie demigods are up to.

“Excuse me for never having fought a wizard before.” The technical term is sorcerer but he’s actually nervous. Huh. She’s never really had the time for that before a fight then she just got used to it. There was always too much to do.

“If all goes well you never will again because Elias and his loonies will stay buried.” Also, after almost ten years in Camp Half-Blood with a weapon in her hand and she’s kind of done with it. Hopefully some new Athena camper will take an interest in battle strategies and Cas can just help demigods become productive civilians once they’re old enough. That and the occasional monster fight is all Cas is really looking to involve herself in.

“And you honestly believe that.” He could pretend for her sake. “That you can make them go away on your terms.”

She turns and looks at him instead of the city and searches for a subject change because doubts are a no-no right now. Her father is pretty awesome because he doesn’t look nervous or uncomfortable but she knows that he is. It’s obvious because he’s well away from his comfort zone like she was in Monaco and during the Expo….neither of them exactly eased the other into their world. That actually makes her smile, “So does real life D&D cover father’s day? Or do I still need to come up with something?”

Mercifully, he allows it, “Definitely going to need that statue.” Done, there’s no getting away from that now. Their modern Phidias responsible for the lobby can come up with something, “And a lunch box too.”

She sighs because, “That wasn’t my best idea.” Iron Man lunch boxes exist now seeing as there are nerdy kids that worship the hallowed ground her father treads on. She said it once in passing to a PR guy and then they made it happen. The revenue goes to charity.

“What?” He’s mocking her, “Come on, you can have one too.” They share a laugh on the balcony but they’re withered and forced things, “You’re going to need to tell me about it eventually.” It being her autobiography in this scenario….

Or she could not do that, “As soon as you tell me the full story of Afghanistan.” They both know that’s never going to happen.

“You drive a hard bargain, kid,” Oh please, Old Man, “My building is better than your building.”

What? Oh, he’s distracting them now, cool, their conversation is sort of bouncing everywhere but it works, “My building is livable and yours has a cult problem.”

“Your fault.” Rude.

“Yeah, I’ll call pest control.” She slips back into silence after that while her brain goes to that unfortunate place of thinking of all of the things that could go wrong. If they’re too far outnumbered, if their entrance is blocked, if, if, if….She did not miss this part of hastily thrown together plans but they can’t exactly delay and risk more people being drawn in. There’s also the simple fact that she doesn’t want more people involved.

“I’ll give it to you, you’ve a pretty decent set up here,” Huh? She looks over, “Excellent taste in building decor,” She rolls her eyes because that’s never going to end and it’ll be weeks before she’s numb to it, “I can see why you’re so focused on it.” 

Yeah, this place is pretty awesome but, “I wish you could see Olympus or even Camp Half-Blood.” She’d probably lose him on Olympus, “This,” She pats the banister, “This is something special but Camp Half-Blood is….” There’s not a singular word for it.

“Home.”

A year ago she would have agreed, “Not entirely.” She could say something about how home is people and Malibu is special but, “I’m a little old to be a summer camp counselor. Camp Half-Blood, it’s chaotic and something explodes everyday. If someone isn’t carried to an Apollo camper because of a broken bone or other injuries daily then it’s the end of days. And I’m me because of them.” Because all of those awesome people taught her how to be a person too.

“That sounds….terrifying. I mean, have you met you? Little Miss ‘I Shall do Great Battle for Olympus.’” What the heck was that?

“I do not sound like that.”

He gives her an unapologetic shrug, “Tiny bit, might want to work on it.”

Two can play at that then, “Might want to work on the self obsession if you really want a statue like that.”

The face he makes next is like she’s walked right into the trap, “I’ve decided,” Oh no, “It’s going in Stark Tower,” Why is this her life? “In the middle of R&D where it can inspire the masses.” And she can see it everyday that she goes in. Yay.

If that’s really what he wants to do then, “Well, I guess,” She sighs, “I’ll just have to be prepared with paint. Iron Man would look good in purple.”

“How dare you.” He scoffs, “You’re fired.”

“Some flower leis, googly eyes….” She pauses, “A top hat.” Honestly, maybe it wouldn’t be that bad. She could recruit Jarvis and her absurdly large amount of Twitter followers would love it.

“Screw it, you’re out of the will.”

“But I just got there.” Win…. “Mardi Gras beads.”

They get several more minutes of quiet where only the city sounds reach them before Annabeth opens the door and says it’s time to go. There goes the ‘not exactly relaxed but not horrible’ atmosphere they were enjoying.

~~~

“Com check,” She doesn’t know if people really do that but it’s in all of the movies and from the looks she’s getting from Annabeth and Clar….she won’t be saying it again. The other two mumble out something while checking over the scant armor and supplies they’ve got (zip ties, emergency Ambrosia, and their phones).

_ “No one actually says that,”  _ Her father says and that’s just too bad. He’s sitting on the roof just waiting for something to go wrong even though the simple plan should work just fine. Cas and her father have the floor plans for the building memorized already so there’s no way that they don’t know it better than the squatters.

“How would you know? I do, deal with it.” Cas nods from the entrance to Grand Central Terminal to Annabeth signalling for her to disappear and meet them further in. She’ll warn them of any suspicious characters. Together Clar and Cas walk in, she’d like to say that they went in under the radar but Clarisse is six and half feet tall and could destroy an NFL linebacker. People look but in that awkward way that suggests they know that what they’re doing isn’t socially acceptable but they can’t help themselves. It’s nothing that suggests Elias left people in the main terminal.

Perfect. Cas expected that because if it wasn’t immediately obvious from the highway and the park bench, Elias is a very direct person. He’s more likely to believe that she’ll pridefully walk through the front door and take on everyone along the way to the top.

Eh. She’s not feeling it today, not when she has a perfectly good elevator that can be hijacked by her father and Jarvis. They had it put in for the sake of convenience, anyone commuting into work can literally take an elevator straight up. According to Pepper it was a bitch to get the historical society to approve it since technically they had to modify the original structure. (Barely) Today, it has been proven worth the effort and Pepper is getting a #1 Boss mug or maybe a Queen pun. In the future, anyone else who tries to use this elevator will require authorization but they’ve got Jarvis.

As the elevator doors close in front of them her father speaks of,  _ “The suit isn’t picking up anyone in the tower below the top fifteen floors.”  _ Great, of course they choose to sit in the ones that are the most unfinished. The R&D floors are included in that as is her father’s penthouse.  _ “I count thirty four total.”  _ A small ding lets her know that her phone’s been updated with the information but she’ll still be relying on verbal updates and confirmation to keep her hands free.

No time like the present, “This elevator can get us up there, right?” It should barring interference. However, she really doesn’t want to take the stairs. That would be a waste of time and energy also Clar and Annabeth might fall behind.

_ “Not a problem,”  _ She never doubted him,  _ “Thirty four bad guys isn’t too much for the femme fatale?” _

Ha, never, “Stark, you shouldn’t doubt us. This is nothing compared to what we did last year.” Aw dammit Clar. He doesn’t know about last fall, winter, and spring….great. Now he will.

_ “What happened last year?” _

Annabeth again keeps the conversation on task, “This isn’t the time, Mr. Stark.” No it really isn’t, “You can try to get information out of Cassie later.” And Cas glares at Annabeth for that. What in Hades did she do to deserve that one? Even as this is happening Cas is minding the elevator’s progress to the top floors and when it dings into an almost empty room her stomach drops. 

By the gods. She’d been hoping for a warning from her father but nothing seems forthcoming.

Clarisse responds immediately, “Stay out of my way!” Yeah, she’ll do that because there’s a godsdamned hellhound outside of the elevator. Her father cannot detect monsters with his current tech and that’s something that they can work on later. Annabeth and Cas don’t hesitate to get out of the elevator and well out of Clar’s way while she draws her own spear (from a backpack. Demigods had Time Lord technology before Dr. Who was a thing.) and charges the mini cooper sized dog.

_ “What’s going on?” _ It says a lot about Cas’s current mental state that What’s Up by 4 Non Blondes popped into her head. She also enjoys the fact that her mind is allowed to stray a little bit because there’s no twelve year old or a mortal Apollo to look after.

Not for long though and she’s not even out of her roll when she answers, “Iron Man cannot track monsters. J, make a note to revisit that later.” Jarvis doesn’t answer her but she trusts that he’ll take care of it. “We’ve got this.”

“I’ve got this,” The hellhound slams into the opposite wall with a crack that it walks off. Damn, Elias summoned a tough one. She didn’t know he could do that but he’s had almost a decade and he did that projection thing at the park. “Get going.” Clarisse belows at her. Now, in a team scenario Cas is usually very anti splitting up because usually the bad guys have contingencies for individuals like Piper and Pandai. This time it’s not a problem because even if Elias believed she’d get help he couldn’t predict who she’d bring specifically. That being said, it’s Clarisse. She’s not worried.

Annabeth and Cas break off in the direction of what she thinks is a group of five cultists from the information sent to her phone. This is going to be great.


	22. No Win Scenarios (They Exist)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason Cas spells her name with one 's'.
> 
> It's actually a little embarrassing on her part because she is dyslexic for English even though she has coping strategies that let her read normally most of the time. So, when Cas was tiny little Cassandra learning from the crazy people she learned her Greek alphabet first and she spelled her name like this Κασάνδρα. There's a variant with two sigmas but that's how she spells her name in Greek.
> 
> So, Cassie shows up in Camp Half-Blood never having spelled her name using the Latin alphabet and is annoyed that she has to now put two 's's in her name when she only uses one sigma.
> 
> When she finally starts using a nickname (and that took some time) Cas refused to use two 's's because "I'm supposed to be shortening it right? What's the point of the second 's'?"

_ April 10, 2008 _

_ Cambridge, MA _

Someone is following her and they’re pretty good at it which is disconcerting. It’s evening so she’s walking back to her apartment from her last class(she was covering teaching freshman as a favor and most of the class is her age...ugh) because she’s over the library for the next few days and….Cas has been (temporarily) banned from her Professor's lab due of a small incident involving magnets and someone else’s data. She promised to help recover as much as she could and she got 88% of it back but yeah...she can’t go back for another week.

Whatever. She came up here on their request this semester, Cas is just waiting to defend her doctoral thesis (number three yay….) again. Realistically, she academically outranks the professor now but it’s his lab and she’s eighteen so seniority on his part and ageism amongst the mortals.

More importantly, there is someone following her but she’s not sure if it’s a monster or a mortal so no stabbing first unfortunately. If it’s someone who thinks that she makes an easy target for mugging well, she’ll just throw them into the wall of this nice alley she’s found. 

She turns off the sidewalk and speeds up as soon as she breaks line of sight. There's a doorframe about one and half feet deep into the alley wall that she takes cover in as she waits for whoever/whatever is behind her. She can hear walking that sounds humanoid so it’s probably a person, fun, not her first mugger so she prepares to ruin this guy’s day like he wants to ruin hers.

Cas swings herself around prepared to kick this random human in the chest but finds herself nearly leveraged against the alley wall instead. Liberal application of her elbow lets her get away but now that she knows this person is no joke the spear comes out.

Her assailant though has very familiar sandy blonde hair and oh no.

“Luke,” She hisses out, “Come to kill me yourself then. Good to know you’ve still got a spine.” But she has no clue what to do because in spite of everything that he’s done, there’s no way that Cassandra Campeao is ever going to kill Luke Castellan. If he’s found the resolve to kill her then she’ll go down swinging but she’s unlikely to win while holding back.

He stands at his full height, “Cassie,” He out of breath from her hit. Good, “I’m not here to fight.”

“Stalking me back to my apartment sends a different message,” She wants to but she doesn’t let her guard down, “What do you want?”

“To talk,” Yeah, sure he does, “I promise you that I’m just here to talk.”

Ha. How dare he, “You’re promises don’t mean shit, Castellan.” The last time they spoke he tried to sell a team up to her, as if that would happen.

“Nice spear,” He hasn’t seen it yet, “Leonidas, right?” He’d better not think that he can show up and small talk his way back into her good graces. After all of this time, he should know her better than that. It’s been years….

“Gift from mom,” He cringes, “I was excited to show you after I got it but you know, you were gone after trying to murder a demigod.” Is that regret in his eyes? He’s going to have to do better than that. The Luke she knows can charm a police officer out of their handcuffs so she’s not falling for his act. She was charmed by a monster in the past and that’s not happening again.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Cassie.” Wasn’t supposed to be….What was it supposed to be like?

“What did you think would happen when you teamed up with a baby eater?” Honestly, Kronos! What was he thinking?

There’s his anger, that ever present frustration at the endless cycle of their demigod existence, “I was thinking that we’d be free from Olympus and the gods that don’t give two shits if we live or die, only that there’s another hero to play grateful servant for them.”

It frustrates her too but, “If you gave two shits about us you wouldn’t have tried to use Thalia.” He flinches, “You wouldn’t have tried to murder Percy. And you sure as hell wouldn’t have used Annabeth for your Atlas plan.” It’s a lie to say he’s protecting the demigods when he turns around and tries to kill and play them like the gods he claims he’s better than.

“That doesn’t matter anymore,” He is very nearly yelling and something’s not right. There’s desperation in his voice, in his eyes, and in his stance, “Something worse is coming and I can’t stop it.” She narrows her eyes and scrutinizes his features, he’s not lying. He’s lost weight though...well that’s not strictly accurate.

Luke grew but they’re both adults now so that’s to be expected. He’s gaunt like he’s both underfed and not sleeping. Good, that means his actions are getting to him as they should be, “What is it?” If he’s showing regret then he can spill Kronos’s plans to her and be helpful.

He shakes his head though, “I can’t,” Hmmm...not that regretful then, “Leave with me.”

What?

She blinks.

And then blinks again when those words fail to rearrange themselves, “Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“I think you’re the smartest person I’ll ever meet,” Damn straight, she is, “Can we talk somewhere else?”

“No,” He bought himself a few minutes of her time but they aren’t going anywhere together, “Get to talking, Castellan. I’m short on patience these days.”

“You were never patient,” She just raises a brow and waits, “I’m scared, Cassie, if this happens there’s no going back.” Chills, legitimate chills fall down her spine and she’s scared too because Luke is fearless.

“If what happens, Luke?” He shakes his head at her, “I can’t help you if you won’t give me anything.” But he just shakes his head again, “Malaka, just come home. We can fix this.” He’ll have to earn forgiveness but she’ll take him back to Camp Half-Blood and then they can figure this out. It’ll be just like old times.

“This happens no matter what but he wants it to be me. If we leave now we can get Annabeth and go.” He looks terrified and she really doesn’t like the sound of that first sentence….

She takes a deep breath and, “Whatever it is...it’s the end for you isn’t it?” Please, let her be wrong but the way his eyes fall shut answers that question for her, “Fuck, Luke just leave and come back to Camp Half-Blood.”

“I can’t, it’s-I can’t go back there, Cassie.” He’s near begging and she doesn’t know what to do…. “He’s going to win eventually, all we can do is get away now.” Well, she can answer that.

“I will never abandon my home,” He doesn’t need to know that she swore her loyalty but he could do with the reminder of what he did to them. He betrayed them and now he shows up here and asks her to do the same. But there’s another problem because no matter how he’s going about it, Luke acts with the intent of protecting all of the demigods, “If you leave, he’ll use someone else.” He nods. Oh gods, she doesn’t want to say this but she has to. “Will you be able to live with that?” Will she be able to live with pushing him back into this? Whatever this is that’s going to...that’s going to take him away.

“What?” The looks he gives her is heartbreaking but she hit the nail on the head.

“Whatever it is that he wants you to do that we can’t possibly beat, can you live with someone taking your place?” She wishes that she could have Luke back but not like this. Cas isn’t running away and Luke isn’t coming back to Camp Half-Blood. He’s looking for a way out that isn’t there. He already made his choices and it led him here and these are the results. Her choices were already made too so here are the consequences. From what he’s suggesting his presence doesn’t change anything long term for Kronos except for whoever has to take the fall for his latest atrocity.

“This was a mistake,” Yeah, probably. “You always have the right questions.”

“You love it,” Dammit, she’s supposed to be angry and cold. It’s too easy to fall back into the same patterns but she misses him.

“Yeah,” She gets a shadow of that grin that she’s missed, “Should’ve known you would tell me to suck it up.” Well, not directly but pretty much. They both made their choices. This is it. Cas is never to see Luke again after this….

It hurts because he’s-he’s it. Luke Castellan and Cassandra Campeao were supposed to change the world together. “Goodbye, Pretty Boy.”

He huffs a wet laugh but neither of them will cry, not now, “Goodbye, Hollyfeld.”

She could let him have this one last time but, “If anything I’m Chris Knight not Lazlo.” He doesn’t reply though and just walks away. Cas should attack or do something. She really should but….Luke is going to do something that there’s no coming back from and if she’s honest with herself, and she really does try, Cas knows that she can’t raise a hand against him like that.

When she makes it back to her apartment she knows that she should pull out some drachme and send an Iris message to camp but Cas just slumps to the ground instead. 

Why did all of this happen?

~~~

_ June 16, 2011 _

_ The not quite finished Stark Tower, Manhattan, NYC, NY _

This is too easy. Really, it is and it’s proving to be a problem. Clarisse is still brawling with a roid raging hellhound but Annabeth and Cas have already cleared and zip tied three floors worth of morons, which amounted to twelve in total. Her father offered to help Clar and was sharply rebuked so he stuck to monitoring them and making remarks about not wrecking his stuff.

This is too easy but she’s been separated from her big gun and the artillery is still on standby if that metaphor makes sense.

And then she gets a warning from her father,  _ “Hold up,”  _ What now?  _ “Bad guys are all moving two floors up from where you are now.” _ Huh...no one had any communication devices and Jarvis said no one accessed the onsite security systems so no one should know that they’re there.

Cas doesn’t like this but she exchanges a glance with Annabeth, “I don’t like this.” They’re in agreement.

“Me neither,” Cas says, “But he is expecting me.” She thinks it over for a second, “Disappear and keep close, it’s time to say hi.”

Annabeth glares, “That’s a bad idea.”

But she’s undeterred, “I’ve got a worse one. Old man, be ready to move if I need you. Non-lethal only.” He can do it, she knows that he can.

The emergency staircases are obviously in place even if this building could walk off a 6 on the Richter scale and has built in fire prevention systems (They’re in R&D territory so it’s needed.) so Annabeth and Cas hit them running. Ah, so familiar. She was doing something stupid like this with Jason just a few months ago.

_ “Getting the feeling that it’s now.” _

“Not yet, trust me.” She doesn’t get a response from any of her companions on that but she didn’t expect a response from Clarisse other than the yelling and insults she’s spitting out during her fight. Amazing how quickly it fades to the background and amazing how quickly Cas shifts gears to keep her anger buried but there’s no fear. No. Elias doesn’t get any of her fear because Cassandra Stark has survived far worse than a delusional coward who squats in her family’s property. However, Cas is more than her anger too and she’s tired of fighting.

They stop outside of one of unfurnished ‘relax rooms,’ well she assumes that Annabeth stops because she can’t see her and Cas prepares herself mentally, “Elias is mine. I want him to be conscious.”

It’s then that Clarisse comes back through,  _ “Finished with Puppy Chow,” _ Oh good,  _ “Leave some for me.” _

Ha. “Best hurry, it’s first come first serve.” She places her hand on the doorknob and takes a fortifying breath. Confidence. It’s all in the presentation, after all. Annabeth squeezes Cas’s shoulder and then she opens the door and strides in like she owns the place. Upon seeing her walking tall and entirely unintimidated by the diverse population(as diverse as twenty can be) of the room the little cultists step back but keep silent. “Did I miss the office party memo? I didn’t even know we were open yet.”

_ “I'm going to punch you in the face after this, Cassie.”  _ Thank you, Clar. That’s not helpful.

No one answers her though. Fine. She was going for lightness but if they want to be a bunch of mute sheep then this is what they get, “I don’t recognize a single one of you. Elias on the other hand,” She sweeps the room with her eyes, “Him I know, and he’s really good at gathering followers.” But he’s not here. Fuck that. “You have one chance to walk away. Don’t waste it.” She doesn’t mention that Jarvis has all of their faces saved and if they ever come near her family again they’ll drop the police on them.

Again nothing but silence. She stands firm and says nothing further. Her father is close, Clar is barreling towards them, and Annabeth is with her. Cas is a daughter of Nike and she doesn’t lose.

There’s a few on the fringes of the ‘gathering’ that waver but none of them move to leave. She wonders what Elias promised them to command such obedience. Or are they really buying what he’s selling? If they are, they’re about to be sorely disappointed.

Slow clapping fills the room and don’t all the villains in her life have the most uncharming flair for the dramatic, “I’ll admit I’m impressed, Cassandra. I thought you’d do the ‘noble’ thing and come alone.” That would have been stupid.

“Yeah, well, I’m not twelve anymore.” And she’s never alone. She’s not built for it, “Fairy tales and knights in shining armor are for children.” That’s a bit of a bluff because the Lion King is for everyone and her father isn’t a knight but the suit is shiny.

“There’s still time to come with us Cassandra,” This guy’s a broken record. Why was she ever reliant on him?

“Did I give you brain damage with that knife?” It hadn’t been her intent but she’d also been half out of her mind with panic at the time. “Whatever,” He’s a lost cause but, “You can still walk away.” To her knowledge, he hasn’t killed anyone other than technically the Daniel guy and the trespassing thing is more super creepy than threatening. Actually, that’s for Clarisse to decide since she fought the hellhound downstairs.

“Is that raging Ares child supposed to be a threat to us? There’s more than hellhounds available nowadays.” Yeah, all the masters have been soundly defeated by the demigods. But he doesn’t know. Not about her father and not about Annabeth being here. He’s so small that she almost feels bad for him. It’s like he’s clinging to this idea of actually taking over the world but why? Hasn’t Cas shown how far she’s willing to go just to prevent that?....Titans, Gaea, and the Triumvirate. So just what is Elias holding on to when his ‘Commander’ has proven that she’s against his ambitions?

Actually.

She doesn’t care. 

Cassandra Stark doesn’t care one wink about this pathetic little person. This man threatened her family and she wants him gone. Preferably with a pulse but that’s neither here nor there.

“Dad, I think it’s time we escort our guests out.” There’s confusion on the faces of the other people in the room. Did they forget who she is? Did they think that she would keep Tony Stark on the outside because he’s a mortal? Did they think that she could? Gods, she overestimated them and they underestimated her. This is a tad embarrassing because it looks like Cas went overboard with the firepower on this. She could have done this herself.

Oh well, at least she has the beautiful image of her father crashing in to do riot control. Annabeth takes off her hat to avoid being collateral to Iron Man’s auto targeting system. The group tries to scatter in chaos but there’s next to no cover because as previously mentioned the room’s unfurnished. Sucks but they chose the losing side.

They should have known better.

Annabeth is occupying herself with the ones that are avoiding her father’s….gentle takedowns which really amounts to him indiscriminately chucking people at walls. They’re going to have to go with something bigger than ‘oh no, these guys tripped the burglar alarm’ when they call the NYPD. By her count Clarisse should be arriving soon too but Cas’s focus is drawn by Elias who managed to slip to the edge of the room and out of an open door.

Oh Hades no, “Hey!” It’s like he knew that she’d spotted him, maybe he planned it, but he looks her in the eye and bolts. As if he could outrun her, she follows without hesitation.

The direction he runs in is towards what will be an open R&D area which she aptly labeled the ‘melting pot’ because multiple projects and experiments will run in tandem allowing for frequent and easy communication between the scientists. Cas’s boogie man is essentially running through her dream workspace and yeah she’s going to take a page out of Clar's and her father’s book and throw him into a wall. It’s not like he’s all that frightening while he’s running away. (Not that he was scary before beyond the shock factor.)

Cas runs into the lit space, the benches are already set as is all piping and wires. It’s just empty and ominous especially with the floor to ceiling windows making it look like she can walk off of the edge of the world. She’s known that she was in danger from the moment they entered the elevator at the base of the building so there’s nothing new or alarming blaring at her. There’s also no Elias which doesn’t make sense, he’s a middle aged human so he shouldn’t be-her thought is cut off as force slams her into the nearest bench which breaks under the impact. Those are designed to take lab sized explosions so it should illustrate how hard the hit was. And...yeah, her nondominant wrist is busted too and yet there is no one around her that she can see.

She already has her spear in her hand by now, “Not running away, are you?” She keeps her arm cradled close to her chest, it’s hardly the first time she’s been hurt like that. The pain isn’t even distracting so she doubts it’s actually broken, not that she’ll risk trying it in the middle of a fight when she has two legs and a spare arm to use instead. But he’s tipped his hand and she has to focus on dodging the Invisible Man. Fine, she’s had far more difficult goals.

_ MOVE! _

Cas is on the other side of the room in time to see another bench slam into another wall….slow. He’s slow but invisible. “Breaking and entering, trespassing, property damage….Damn Elias, you’re making it easy for me to get you arrested.” Instinct has her moving again while the wall behind cracks from whatever Elias is throwing around.

“The police, Cassandra?” Ah, thank you for your location, sir, “How disappointing.” Keep talking, stalker. 

They repeat the same process a few times and each time she gets a better idea of where he’s standing. Cas only needs to grab him and this is over.

“I’m still trying to figure out what you thought you were going to accomplish with this.” She doesn’t let on that she has any clue where he is and her eyes dart around while she attempts to pinpoint his location. A few more jumps and she’ll be able to guess, “I could have killed you as a little girl but you decided that all of this, gunning for adult me, was a good idea.” He’s an Icarus, no, he’s worse. Elias is a Bellerophon which means she gets to be Pegasus in this story and throw him off Mount Olympus.

“It was promised!” Cas leaps out of the way because she pissed him off enough to summon up something angry red and whip like that melts through the surface she was standing on...joy. He’s a surprisingly accomplished sorcerer not that he’s on par with Lou Ellen or Hazel but conjuring up a weapon like that is not easy according to the magicy campers. Regardless, that sounds like he’s chasing prophecies like he’s Rhaegar Targaryen and she doesn’t like his character much from the books. 

Well, angry and yelling, he’s actually revealed his exact position and Cas is about as gentle as he was when he slammed her into the lab bench. Small problem for Elias is that he’s not half as durable as she is and based off of that nauseatingly familiar scream….he’s not getting up for a while. That’s fine, he doesn’t need to move between now and when the cops come.

His injury has the added benefit of breaking his concentration on whatever was keeping him out of sight. From the way he’s cradling his face it’s possible that she broke his cheekbone when she punched him. She moves to hold him at spear point, “You lost here,” He’s glaring at her but he doesn’t say anything, “Don’t try again or I won’t hold back.”

And then the most disturbing thing happens, Elias starts laughing. She can hear others coming in behind her and from the familiar sounds of machinery her father is there too. Whatever, he can laugh his way into a padded cell because even if he blabs about prophecies and demigods, no one will believe him. 

She gives him her back because if Elias tries anything he’s dead given that two demigods and Iron Man are in the room too. Everyone appears to be fine but there's some extra volume to Annabeth's curly ponytail that catches her eye, “Did you know that they had elemental magic?”

Huh….someone tried to zap her with electricity. Well then, “Nope, that’s new. I wonder where they learned it.” Not that she actually cares all that much. Clarisse moves past her to secure their last opponent and Cas relaxes just a smidgen even as Elias’s laughter grates against her ears. “Since no one that matters was hurt, we should go so that dad can call a ride for these guys.”

“Can’t say I was expecting to call the cops Voldemort and friends this morning."

Annabeth crosses her arms and looks around the room, “That’s generous.” Yeah, their efforts were unexpected but also unimpressive. “What happened to your wrist?”

Damn, “Honestly, I don’t think it’s broken but don’t quote me. It can wait.” Cas doesn’t even look back as she prepares to leave. She wants ice for her wrist, food, and a good fucking movie but of course there’s one more thing in the way. This whole thing turned out to be a waste of time and her boogie man was not scary anymore, just stupid and unimportant.

“Don’t you want to know?” The deranged man says through the laughter. Cas chooses to ignore him but her father just has to respond.

“Just sit tight, Saruman, your chariot will be here soon.” At least it’s dismissive instead of goading.

“Oh Helper of Man, don’t you want to know how I ‘stole’ you in the first place?” She freezes on her walk to the door because she does. It’s an unexplained weakness in Olympus and if one person did it then it could happen again….

Clarisse doesn’t agree with her though, “Shut up, or I’ll make you.”

“No,” She says and her voice is cold, “Let the man speak.” The moment that she says the words she regrets it because Elias looks downright maniacal.

“You were a gift,” What? “Your mother presented you to us.”

She perceives that there’s shouting around her. Confusion from her father and denials from Clar and Annabeth because that shouldn’t be. That can’t be….She’s in Elias’s face before she’s even realized that she’s moved, which must be disconcerting for the others in the room given her speed. Like most men, Elias has few inches on Cas but that doesn’t matter when she grabs him by the front of his cheap button down and slams him into the wall, “Liar!” She was stolen. Her mother would never do that.

“Why lie when the truth is so much better?” He doesn’t look like he’s lying but it’s hard to read him when his face is swelling from her hit and that scar inhibits normal muscle movement. “She promised that through me you would become a great commander.” What? “It’s too bad that you ran. I wasn’t planning on killing you that day.” Then why did he… “I believed you needed more discipline but look at you now.” Even though it must be agonizing, he grins at her and she’s so tempted to pull her spear and….and what?

The others are yelling at her but she just wants to end this man and make him stop lying because everyone knows she was stolen….from Olympus….by a mortal?

“Cassandra, put him down.” It’s not surprising that it’s Annabeth’s voice that breaks into her headspace.

People believe that? How would they have even gotten in?

Cas actually bought that?

Wait….no this is Elias. She tosses him aside and backs up. He used her and he tried to make her murder a man just to prove her worth. His words aren’t worth jackshit.

“I should have known better than to take a goddesses words at face value,” But what did her mother say that day... ‘You've grown so strong,’ was it in amazement at her child surviving or pride that her plan worked. No, she needs to back up, she needs to verify. This-there’s too much unknown right now. “Unfortunately,” He groans in pain, “It seems that through me is not the same as with me.” 

Clarisse puts an arm around Cas and leads her away because she can’t really think straight right now. She doesn’t think all of the way back to the high-rise. It was too easy but….this doesn’t feel like a win.

~~~

The next few days are a bit of a blur. At first it’s because her father has to clean up after her mess again(he waved away her apology) because according to the news it was a group of bombers (?) that were arrested. So, her father is continuing his trend of defeating terrorists. Does it make sense for terror bombers to attack an incomplete and empty building? No, not at all, but mortals and rationalization. She does wonder what’s going to happen to Elias and his ‘people’ but she isn’t overly concerned with the outcome. The gods have means to ensure justice in situations like these after all something had to happen to the demigods that fought on the side of Kronos two years ago.

If only the gods could make all of this vanish but it’s too high profile seeing as it was Stark Tower. Her father did have a good laugh about how she’s getting him all of the commendations for things that he didn’t do. In this case, he did help like a lot so he can have all of the accolades from the mob for defending the country from domestic terrorism. It would have been better if Shield hadn’t swooped in again and debriefed him (interrogated) but they just rolled their eyes and let it happen. The news crews told the story for them mostly.

She’d rather have that to deal with over internally debating the pros and cons of trying to reach her mother. Or even talking to Chiron? Does he know? Did he consider this but never tell her?

Her mortal family has in fact invaded her apartment in the days following the confrontation with Elias and Cas...is okay. It makes a twisted amount of sense for Nike to have done it, if she did do it. (verify, she needs to verify) Jason Grace was handed over to Lupa as an infant but that was his mortal parent reluctantly and under threat from Hera. So there’s precedent for the demigods being handed over for lifelong training (not a weapon, she’s not a weapon), just not to crazy extremists that get angry after someone tells them no so they turn to occult magic. And where did that come from? It’s far more than she ever saw anyone display during her childhood but maybe they just didn’t want her to know. 

Nope. She can’t think about that right now. Future Cas can deal with that one.

Instead she moves through her morning on autopilot because hooray it's June 20, 2011 which makes Dr. Cassandra Stark twenty two years old today. Damn. It’s not worth the effort to make her own espresso this morning although she does appreciate having her own machine. Nah, the coffee machine is hers and she won’t be sharing it for a while. Based off of the sun, it’s early and a quick check of her phone puts the time at 7:40. Yep. She’s not expecting anyone to be around for an hour at least. Pepper is an early riser but she’s also jet lagged.

The good news is that she’s not technically needed at Camp Half-Blood today because the exact date for the solstice this year is June 21 not 20 so she won’t be mobbed by baby demigods until tomorrow. However, she has that spar against Meg to look forward to so that’s a good thing. 

She heads down to the gym level after a sort of breakfast, Cas just eats whatever’s edible in the kitchen until she’s not hungry anymore. This at least is something that always helps her put her thoughts in order or at least it would have if she didn’t release her grip on the uneven bar when she felt the need to dodge. She hits the floor hard but rolls it off and looks around to see something very splattered against the wall. Ummmm….is that a pomegranate? Why….oh shit.

It’s an old tradition. They actually still do it in Greece to this day sort of. On New Years in Greece it’s tradition to smash a pomegranate on a doorway and it dates back to the olden days of Athens New Year on the summer solstice. It brings good luck. Of course, that wasn’t a doorway because well, if you tell a kid to smash something against the floor it’s going to end up thrown at someone. If you tell a demigod to do that it turns into a traditional pomegranate war that can and will ruin all clothing that you have on your person. That shit stains and it also looks really gruesome at first glance.

She looks for her assailant and sees an unrepentant group of people she didn’t even notice come in. Stoll brothers, Piper, Annabeth, and Percy...oh dear.

“Heard you were up in your tower moping like Rapunzel.” Well, that’s just harsh Piper.

She sighs, since they’re here, “Is this an assassination or are you arming me too?” Cas does in fact get her own bucket (guess what it’s bigger on the inside). Conner is the first one to break the perimeter of the gym to find more victims and the rest follow not long after. Cas feels bad for whoever is going to be cleaning the gym but it won’t be her because she’s the first victim in this battle. She didn’t start it. Rooms are off limits but halls and everything else that’s open in this building is. 

Cas takes full satisfaction in beaming Percy in face on the pool deck where he slipped and fell in. Of course he proceeded to throw half of the shallow end at her for laughing at the face he made while going in. Annabeth is a cheating ambusher but that’s to be expected and the Stoll brothers...well, Fred and George Weasley have nothing on these guys when it comes to raw delinquency. 

At one point in time she ends up teaming up with Piper in the gardens because there’s a couple of satyrs that Cas offended with her aim(the old stuffy ones not Grover, he’s cool). The horns are valid targets but it’s a pomegranate. For anyone who's never held one before it’s comparable to being hit with an exploding rubber ball and demigods can wind up a pitch so it’s a bit more jarring than a water balloon, not that they mind.

She’s actually gotten so into it that she’s surprised a few hours later when she’s slinking around floors 20-23 that Pepper shows up….and she’s wearing white. That’s a conundrum. How did she even get this far from the elevator without getting hit? This could actually injure her….

“Cassie, there you are. What happened to you?” Better question is how did she find Cas…Though to Pepper it may be more pressing to know what she’s currently covered in.

She looks around expecting an attack from Annabeth or some other Athena demigod but there’s no one around, “War, Ms. Potts. Who snitched on my location?”

Pepper looks at her like she’s grown three heads, “Your phone,” That answers one question, “Seriously, what is going on?” She’s right to be concerned Cas has been quieter than usually the past few days and it looks like demigod absurdity is exactly what she needed.

“New Years tradition, honestly you’re probably going to want to head back up. I’ll cover you.”

“You throw fruit at each other for New Years now.” It’s amazing. Pepper has gone from constantly questioning every uniquely demigod thing Cas does do calm acceptance. “Sally didn’t mention this.”

What?

“Sally?”

She nods, “Yeah, Percy gave me her number so that we had ‘a mortal who gets it’ to talk to.”

This is both simultaneously amazing and terrifying, “You’ve befriended Mrs. Jackson.” Pepper Potts and Sally Jackson are….Cas doesn’t even know.

Pepper gives her a look and Cas prepares to backpedal, “Do I need your permission?”

“Nope,” Her voice is not smaller under that gaze, not at all, “Just lamenting the imminent death of the free world and preparing to bow down to my new Queens.”

At that Pepper rolls her eyes and waves Cas forward.

They make it back to the one elevator that goes all the way to the top without anyone firing on them and it makes Cas want to keep Pepper with her for the rest of the day. Even if she’s wearing white, which just...isn’t a good lifestyle choice right now. They make it to her floor where her father is sitting with Happy and Piper in her living room.

“Princess, have you been hiding in the tower the whole time?” She ditched Cas with the satyrs hours ago.

“I got bored and wanted some mature company.” It’s impressive that Piper says that with a straight face.

Cas snorts in response, “You won’t find that here.”

Whatever, Cas moves to the kitchen and starts scrubbing at her face with a wet towel. It’s a lost cause and she will require a shower before she gets all of the fruit off of her. She feels everyone staring but she’s not really prepared to deal with the tiptoeing around the revelation yet.

“I was actually just explaining that we’re having a party tonight,” What? “Figured it’s best to keep everyone informed.”

“Why?” It’s her birthday but why?

Piper however, is unrepentant, “Because we love you, Cassandra.” Ugh, why must she do this in front of the mortals?

“Thanks, I love me too.” She finally addresses the mortals in the room, “Live action Fruit Ninja will probably start the pitter out in like an hour.” They’ve been going since ten and it’s like three now so they’ve hit most of the building by this point. Thank the gods that the children of Demeter can keep up with the demand for pomegranate or they would’ve run out. Once everyone is sufficiently coated they’ll retreat or risk being stained red in spots for a day or so, it’s too late for Cas but she really doesn’t care. Happy barely holds back the laugh at her comment but if her friends want to be sappy they can’t do it in front of her family, “Either way, Pepper, white is not a wise decision.” The woman in question thinks this over before grimacing and quickly walking off. Hopefully she brought black even though it’s a NYC summer.

“You’re looking less like depression today.” Why thank you father for pointing that out but at least Piper found it amusing.

“I’m covered in fruit, how does that correlate to my emotional state?” She is feeling better about….that but she’s planning on talking to Chiron tomorrow anyway. If he knew this whole time then she’s not exactly sure what’s going to happen but it won’t end well.

“It’s better than flannel and sad puppy.” Okay, she did wear flannel but puppy cannot possibly be an accurate description. “They should fire Sarah McLachlan and hire you to save the animals.”

Piper decides to throw in her two cents, “It’s true, Cas can pout with the best of them. It’s the sad brown eyes. They’re so emotional.”

Right, since everyone is being oh so sensitive to her feelings, “You were saying something about a party later. I assume it’s for me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has anyone in the audience read the Throne of Glass books by Sarah J Maas? You should.
> 
> There's a character in Queen of Shadows, I don't want to give his name away if it's spoilers for anyone who tries to pick it up, but at one point in time he was so significant to the main character of the series. He ran her life, paid for her education, he practically made her.
> 
> He also got her sent to a labor camp on purpose because she had just a little bit too much spine and personality that he wanted beaten out of her. (Beginning of the first book)
> 
> Anyway, this character sort of loomed at the beginning of the series and he's really important in the prequel short stories too. He's made out to be so powerful and intimidating and scary. Then when the protagonist goes back and sees him...she's just outgrown him and I think that's so much more empowering than having him be a big bad that takes so much physical exertion to defeat. I tried to emulate that in this story and I don't know how I did but I hope you at least enjoyed the finished product.


	23. Rose Tinted Glasses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys,
> 
> Once again I am so grateful to my readers. You've been amazing and really helpful with your comments. The way that people have responded to this story is more than I was expecting so thank you for that.
> 
> <3
> 
> Expect the next one to be up starting sometime next week. I was just impatient to get this chapter posted honestly.

_ September 27, 2001 _

_ Unknown location _

Cassandra wakes up afraid because this is not the chilly smelly alleyway that she fell asleep in last night. She couldn’t have been so tired that she didn’t wake up after being picked up, that’s been trained out of her by….by those people. 

“I know you’re awake, Cassandra, though your attempt is admirable.” She doesn’t recognize that voice.

Seeing as she’s somewhere that’s not where she chose to be, Cassandra rolls out of bed in the opposite direction of the unrecognized voice. She crouches behind the bed and her eyes freeze on the woman seated at the worn table between her and the door.

“There’s no need for that. If I’d wanted to hurt you it would have been when I found you out in that filth.” Her voice is dripping with disdain when she says that word and Cassandra flinches back. Something about this woman is  _ powerful _ and she doesn’t know what it is. It’s making her all kinds of uncomfortable. The woman’s eyes narrow, “I thought you were more intelligent than this, oh well, I suppose you can’t be perfect.” 

What? Who is this lady? “And who are you?” Cassandra did not intend to stand nor did she intend to stomp around the bed like an angry child but this woman just called her stupid.

“Ah,” There’s a spark of something in her goldish eyes, and isn’t that a strange color, “There you are and you’ve grown so strong too. I’d expect nothing less from one of mine.”

One of hers? Oh! Oh gods, “Mother!” Cassandra hastily attempts to bow but she hasn’t eaten in over a day so she gets dizzy and nearly over balances. 

Her mother laughs at her and it’s kind of embarrassing that this is her first time meeting Lady Nike, her mother, “None of that, Cassandra, you’ve been through an ordeal but I want you to know that you will never need to go back there, okay?” She wasn’t planning on it but she nods anyway. “Use your words.”

“Yes, mother.”

“Good, now let's get down to business.” Her brow furrows in confusion, “We need to talk about where you’re going next.” Next….Cassandra wasn’t really planning for anything at the moment. A meal would be wonderful though. That’s when her mother shares with her the wonder of Camp Half-Blood, a place full of people like her where she can continue to learn and grow. It sounds better than Elysium. “That’s all for now.” Wait, what? Her mother waves her hand and the table is covered in food and a backpack appears on the bed, “The room is paid for another six hours. Don’t waste this break and remember not to slow down until you cross the camp border. Speak to Chiron first, he’ll help you.” 

This is all so much and Cassandra has so many questions but her mother is a goddess. It’s not like she can expect to hold her for any amount of time.

“Thank you, mother.” She’s really not doing much other than agreeing here but what else is she supposed to do when her other option is to ignore her mother, the goddess, and probably die alone on the street.

“Wonderful,” Her mother rolls her shoulders and two magnificent golden wings appear before she vanishes leaving Cassandra alone again.

To Long Island? First food and shower….

~~~

  
  


_ June 20, 2011 _

_ Lamark High-Rise, Safe Haven for Demigods _

The party is technically for her and thank the gods that there are other mortals and those other mortals include Sally Jackson and company so it’s even better. Actually, Cas doesn’t know if she should be concerned or not by how her mortals have been integrated into the ‘real’ adults group consisting of the supportive/in the know parent population. She’s scared.

Just a bit because she can feel the curious glances being shot at where she’s standing. Cas really hopes they aren’t talking about giants….please.

She tries not to think about it and to let them enjoy the benefit of talking to other people who’ve been through the whole process of discovering the gods are real and so are monsters. Cas will happily remain sandwiched between Piper and Nico while eating the blue brownies that Mrs. Jackson brought. There’s only enough for like twenty people but it was a nice gesture. It’s actually a bit surprising to see the amount of people that showed up since everyone knows that she lived. She literally sent out a mass message saying “I live” with a picture of Mushu so that they knew it was real. Not that she’s complaining about it because someone started up a tamer pomegranate fight for the younguns and she did get to make someone else's day.

There aren’t exactly a lot of baby demigods here right now because the camp is busy and very full right now. (3,256 campers ranging from ages 6 to 21 with an average age of 15….wow) However, little Harley from the Hephaestus cabin managed to get here with Nyssa and well….

“Old man, come here and meet your fan.” Harley thinks Iron Man is the second coolest thing ever with the first being Festus the dragon. The demigod in question is clinging to Cas’s back like a monkey and has yet to say anything.

Her father obliges and breaks away from a conversation with Mr. Chase, which isn’t overly surprising given that he is fairly intelligent. Annabeth mentioned earlier that her mortal family is in town because they need some distance from Boston for a little while which is fair. They’re investigating extraterrestrial life and Cas imagines that sometimes stepping back is important for sanity purposes. “Which is this one? A child of short scruffy people.” Sadly that does describe Harley, he’s a bit like Pig-Pen from the Peanuts in that the dirt and grease seek him out. In all likelihood, Nyssa did wash his face before they came but there is engine oil on him already.

“This is Harley, he’s-”

“I’m gonna build a better Iron Man one day.” Yikes, that was loud and right in her ear.

She finishes her thought though, “He’s a child of Hephaestus,” That catches her father’s attention, “This one was born with a screwdriver in his baby fist.” Cas had hoped to introduce her father to Leo as well but he went back to Indianapolis to help coordinate the Waystation rebuild but that turned into overhaul and upgrade really fast. She’s actually going to need to find an excuse to get over there herself pretty soon.

Her father isn’t exactly the most comfortable around children but this one, “Iron Man is trademarked, you’re gonna need to get your own name.” Harley is less snot nosed brat and more ‘please, don’t touch that blowtorch’ ergo he’s one of them so Cas gets to enjoy brainstorming future hero names with Harley for a little while as her father passes judgement. 

And he’s far too proud of the name Iron Man even though, “The media named you Iron Man.”

“No, they didn’t.” They did but she let’s it go because Harley believes her father which is rough. Anyway he’s excited and babbling happily even if she has to attempt to translate magic based engineering to practical science based. 

It’s certainly not a dull birthday party though and Cas can say with slight disappointment that she is not the first person to vandalize the Iron Man statue. That honor goes to the Stoll twins who for whatever reason decided that Iron Man needed to look like a member of Black Sabbath. It’s not the most creative thing they’ve ever come up with but she is impressed by the wig they managed to fit on the helmet.

Demigod party games are not generally advisable for indoors, there’s no lake for her to be thrown in, and no one can try to take her to the arena for ‘birthday punches’ because they aren’t in Camp Half-Blood. However, someone brought out some Nerf guns and things went downhill real fast from there, no mortals were harmed but it was a near miss. They’re going to be finding Nerf darts scattered around the building for months. Of course, there was the almost very bad idea that occurred while she was talking with Pepper and Mrs. Jackson (“You can call me Sally, Cas. It’s ok.” “Whatever you say, Mrs. Jackson.”).

It all started with the Stoll brothers, a few hopeful Hermes campers, and two Apollo kids, “Hey badass Cassie,” Travis is such a flatterer, “Do you think you could hit a target at fifteen yards from the tenth floor trampoline?” That stops her mid conversation about how schooling works for the year round campers and what legal protections runaways will require in the future. Emancipation of minors is a term that Cas has done extensive research on recently.

Cas is very conscientious of Pepper's watchful gaze and Mrs. Jackson’s amused one because she wants to say yes simply to give it a shot. She’s not the best archer but fifteen yards isn’t that far and a trampoline just adds a timing element to it but….there’s a gleam in the twins eyes that she isn’t fond of, “Depends, what’s in it for me?”

“Bragging rights,” That’s fair, “And a one up on the ray of sunshine over here.” The sulking Apollo child (Jacob? James? John?) suggests that he tried and failed the challenge and Cas smells a rat.

“Do I get test shots with the bow and available arrows first?” They’re all slightly different and one never knows what they’re getting from a Stoll brother. Her fault, she encouraged it when they were younger.

“No, limit one per customer.” Ha, hard pass.

“Go scam someone else, boys and girls.” Cas found out much later that the arrows were rigged to blow with confetti and sounded like an air horn when they went off. The reason little Jeremy was sulking is because he screeched like a banshee when the arrow exploded in his hands mid jump. An all around win for her because Pepper thought she was being mature and avoiding nonsensical stunts which isn’t the case because if it was a normal set of arrows Cas would’ve done it. (Mrs. Jackson knew though.)

There was a moment of annoyance when someone decided that blasting Party Rock Anthem was a good idea but she let it pass because even if it’s not her genre it is catchy. As long as no one starts playing Rebecca Black’s Friday which has been sent to her phone an unnecessary amount of times she can deal with whatever they play.

She’s having such a good time that when she wanders off to get away from a group of Hermes kids intent on playing a game of ‘how many wallets’ (they return them after but if she walks away she gets plausible deniability and immunity), Cas hasn’t thought about what tomorrow holds for her in hours. Her mistake is enjoying a moment of quiet on one of the midlevel open balconies. 

She hears the sweeping of the wings and feels her mother’s presence but doesn’t turn away from the view. “Mother,” Gods, her voice is empty, “Is it true?” There’s a proper way to greet her mother but she’s not up for it at the moment.

“Cassandra,” Her mother never shortens her name. Always Cassandra, always ‘Helper of Man,’ “Aren’t you going to say thank you?” She likes Cas because it’s short and it’s hers.

What? She turns to face her mother. Currently, she’s dressed ready to take on the boardroom of any Fortune 500 company but the crown of laurels and the golden wings might be a bit of a distraction. “What am I thanking you for?”

Her mother’s smile is indulgent, “Just the airbag,” Ah, that’s what happened, she thought that was too convenient, “It was a warning to stay away but Elias didn’t listen,” Cas holds in the grimace she wants to make at hearing that name, “And then there was your little walk about with Athena’s daughter. Did you really think that it would be that easy?” That makes sense. That pressing need to get out was unexpected. “And let’s not forget that Olympus will be watching the justice proceedings on the….cultists.” She says the words with distaste.

In that case, “Thank you mother, but is it true?” Is everything that she knew about herself a lie?

“My duty is to ensure victory for Olympus,” Cas is aware but that doesn’t answer her question, “As my daughter, you have the potential to be successful in whatever you choose to do but had I given you to you father to raise, you most likely would have been dead by twelve,” She tightens her grip on the banister but doesn’t argue. If her mother is saying this then it’s probably true, maybe, she doesn’t know anymore, “And even if you had made it to Chiron’s….gentle teachings you would have died by eighteen and the losses to the titans would have doubled.” Her eyes fall closed.

“So you sacrificed my childhood for the wars.” Her mother gave her away to become a tool and Cas came back forged to fight in a child’s army. How beautifully pragmatic of her mother.

“I ensured the best route to the cleanest victory was available. You performed perfectly just as I expect any child of mine to do.” This should hurt. She should be screaming and raging and yelling but she feels cold.

Very cold.

Does her mother love her? She’s scared to ask.

“You are without a doubt my favorite child, Cassandra.” Only until the next one comes along. The gods are fickle with their affections and her mother has never been close to her. She’s glad. It’s probably why she isn’t crying right now like she would be if her father was saying this….Does he love her? “Your potential far surpasses Alexander, never forget that.” That….that isn’t what she wants.

Numbly she says, “Thank you, mother.” There’s more to discuss though, “Did….did anyone else know?” Did the other gods know and laugh? Has Chiron known this whole time?

Her mother sighs like this is some huge bother, Cas kind of likes being an inconvenience in this case, “Athena knew. We will be defending our actions before Zeus very soon,” Ah, if that’s all then, “I expect it will be brushed aside since it worked even if we didn’t involve him initially.” The relief that floods her over the simple fact that Chiron didn’t know is unexpected and staggering.

“Happy Birthday, Cassandra. I can’t wait to see what you come up with next.” That’s horribly foreboding. Cas kind of wants to retire from the hero gig at this point. Her mother flies off before Cas has a chance to formulate a reply and it’s for the best based on the pressure building in her chest.

Dr. Cassandra Stark is no stranger to betrayal. Luke and Silena made sure that Cas learned in the most brutal way possible. She knows that the gods have funny ways of showing that they care….But her mother let Cas be made into a weapon and she didn’t even have a chance. 

Does that count? She’s under no illusion of how the gods view demigods. They’re bragging rights and chess pieces to the gods and maybe to their parents they can be equated to a prized horse, expected to run and run until the inevitable happens. Some are better than others but the fact remains that the gods can’t compare to a mortal parent….she both wishes and doesn’t wish for her dad right now.

She’s not really a cryer...she tears up but sobbing is atypical Cas behaviour. 

They start in her chest and steal the breath from her lungs until she’s crouched sobbing into her knees. Cas can fight. She's good at it and it’s fun to spar with friends. She’s good at strategy and planning so she took up that mantle because it needed to be done and she was the best available. But she doesn’t want that to be her.

She wants to make things. It’s fun to see a problem and build a solution or even just take something that’s already there and make it even better. So, why did her mother send her to become a weapon? It’s not fair. It really isn’t. Gods, if Luke was still alive she’d….no, that brings her up short because she wouldn’t.

Even if Luke was still alive and even if Kronos was still coming, Cas would stand with Camp Half-Blood. Even if her mother is uncaring, Cassandra Stark loves Camp Half-Blood and the demigods that live there.

It still really fucking sucks.

“Kid?” Shit.

Not now. Why is he even here?

“Go. Away.” She chokes out.

“Is that any way to talk to your father?” He aims for flippant but there’s some concern.

“How would I know?” She spits. Cas would like to have her existential breakdown in private, please and thank.

“Yeah,” He approaches carefully like she’s some escaped zoo animal. Gods, they’re both messes of human beings, “I wouldn’t know either.” For all that her father will mention his mother in passing, Howard Stark is not often talked about. Other than when they dug through all of his research that they got from Shield for anything useful her father doesn’t talk about him. Cas has learned more about the original Jarvis than she has about her paternal grandfather. “But typically, and don’t quote me, I’m not supposed to go away when my kid is bawling her eyes out on her birthday.” And now her father decides to be an actual father. He sure learned fast. Absently, she wonders if he speed read parenting books or something, with his go big or go home attitude she wouldn’t be overly surprised.

Rather speak immediately, Cas focuses on trying to get her breathing under control but she’s experiencing intermittent hiccups which are not helping, “Did your nonexistent dad senses tell you to come find me?”

“Nah,” He says as he eases himself down next to her, “So what made the superhero go full ditched prom date?” Cas has never been to a Prom but whatever.

She sighs and leans back against the cool railing behind her, “My mother was here and Elias wasn’t lying.” She just looks up at the building and focuses on everything that it represents for demigods while her father comes to his own conclusions. Her breathing is about back to near normal since she really doesn’t want to ugly cry in front of her father, not very superhero.

There’s a few minutes of silence until her father shifts a bit next to her and his hands tense and twitch in that way that suggest a twenty four hour workshop binge is on the way, “Howard Stark,” She freezes, “Was cold and he was calculating. He never told me he loved me. Hell, he never even told me he liked me. I think the happiest day of his life was when he shipped me off to boarding school.”

Huh, commiserate on shared pain day it is. At least they’re continuing the truth for truth status quo that’s been working for them so far, “We are supremely fucked up human beings.”

He barks out a laugh, “Yeah, we’re pretty good at faking it though.”

“Yeah,” She sighs again, “It doesn’t really change anything because it’s not like we’re close. That was only the fourth time we’ve spoken but it just….”

“Sucks?”

“That,” Cas steels herself for a rejection because she’s already down so what the hell, “I love you, dad.” There she said it. It was a little jumbled and rushed but she said it. Her shoulders curl in just a little bit without her permission and she hopes...she really hopes because today is competing for worst birthday ever. 

She should know better by now though. They’re not on a casually hugging basis yet and maybe they never will be but her father wraps an arm around her to pull her closer and presses a kiss to the top of her head. It makes her tear up again because she could’ve had this her whole life, “Love you too, kid.” They stay like that for a good long while because other people just aren’t tempting at the moment.

~~~

_ Several Months Later _

_ Stark Tower _

“I stand by my statement that this is a horrible idea.”

Yeah, but he’s allowing it, “Uh-huh, but I’m bored and I’ve never had a safe means to try this before.”

“Can’t you try this on a shorter building?” And ruin the fun, please, her father is on board and this is just a token complaint so that he can say he tried when Pepper finds out.

“And give you less time to get there if it goes wrong? That’s not very smart.” They’re both bored. They have to wait for approvals to go through before any more work can be done in the tower’s connection to the power grid but all of the science is sound and in place. Cas and Tony Stark currently have no pressing projects or meetings or conferences that they need to prepare for and they’re bored.

So, Cas’s mind turned to something that she’s wondered about for a while but never really had the means to properly play around with. When she warps to her spear her momentum is conserved and she decides which direction her momentum is applied by how she orients around her spear on arrival.

“Taking a dive off Stark Tower is not the best way to test this.” He’s just being a dad.

“Would you prefer if I used the jet?” Because that’s an option too. Her father just sighs from where he’s standing in the armor. If he was really against this then he wouldn’t have put it on.

In theory, if Cas takes a dive off of a building but throws her spear up as she’s falling and warps to it then, according to the Laws of Conservation of Energy and Momentum, Cas should be able to go straight up using gravity to slingshot herself. It wouldn’t even require that much energy input from her if she times it right because the energy cost of the warp is based purely on Cas’s linear distance from her spear.

This is literally the best time to do this. It’s a Tuesday. It’s late. And the building isn’t completely open yet so there’s no one inside other than them and Jarvis. Her father is on standby for if she misses, or over shoots, or passes out, or something equally unfortunate.

“I’d prefer it if you had better boredom solutions.” As if he's any better.

“This is practical. What if I fell off of a building?”

“As opposed to jumping off.”

“Exactly.” She motions between the two of them, “This is a controlled environment.”

“Uh-huh,” He lifts off the platform, “You get six seconds.”

That’s more than she needs. Cas summons her spears, lines up her jump, and dives.

One.

She’s not afraid.

Two.

Not only is she certain of her own ability but her father is right there.

Three.

It’s a bit tricky to line up a straight shot upward with the wind roaring in her ears but she manages.

Four.

It’s also possible that eye protection would have been a good idea because air is mean to her eyeballs.

Five.

Her spear is thrown away from herself with as much force as she can exert while falling but then she follows.

Six.

Cas shrieks with laughter because she’s flying! It’s completely uncontrolled and if she’s lucky she’ll have enough momentum to reach the ledge and pull herself up. In real life air resistance does need to be factored into the problem but Iron Man is right there just in case. Rather than get carried onto the balcony, Cas throws her spear one more time and lands heavily on the correct side of the bannister. “That was awesome! Let’s go again!” She thinks that with practice she can control her ‘flight’ path better.

Her father lands next to where she’s laying and still laughing, “If you want to fly so bad then we can build you a suit.”

“No way,” She grins up at him, “Too clunky, I’m agility based.”

He has the gaul to look offended, “This is agile.”

“Yeah, in the air but a child of Morpheus could beat you in a foot race.” Cas plans to remain on the ground most of the time but this….this was fun. She needed this after the last few weeks. Her last three summers have been intense as hell.

She can’t wait to get back to the relative peace and quiet of R&D once Stark Tower is fully operational.

The End:

Cassandra Stark will return in  **The Avengers: Age of Heroes**

Sample:

“Drop!” Cas hits the ground rolling as a barb flies over her head and hits the wall of the old warehouse behind her. There’s yet another hole torn into the new jacket that Pepper got her for Christmas this past year which is really just mean. It was a very nice jacket and now Cas is going to have to explain to the Queen herself why it looks like she got into a fight with a lion.

Plot twist, not a lion.

It’s godsdamned manticores with a grudge. Evidently, there are close familial ties between manticores and Mr. Thorn has siblings which is just brilliant. She wasn’t even involved in that fight because she was at school. Gods….And it's been years, not that immortal energy constructs of pure freaking spite and revenge would notice.

The ragged evil talking cat/scorpions were kind enough to attack on the water though so when Cas asked for backup in saving the baby demigods and the goat boy it was Percy who volunteered to help. So when Cas dropped to the ground to dodge the kitty harpoon there was a flood of water comparable to a firehose available to slam into the side of said manticore. Has she mentioned that Percy has a thing about manticores? It likely has something to do with the fact that one kidnapped Annabeth when they were kids.

She should back up.

It’s been a bit of a day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soft moments are soft because we need and deserve them.
> 
> Also, as part of the care and maintenance of your Stark do not let them grow bored. And most importantly, do not let them grow bored in pairs.


End file.
